The Last One
by The Smiling Shadow
Summary: In the ending of the war, and Sky Net's dying time, Machines are falling, and Man triumphs. And one abandoned child, beaten by the consequences of war seeks a companion, who comes to her in the form of the Last T1000. She names him Tyler.
1. Found You

This is where they were brought to die. Where machines were slaughtered by their own. She was once able to hear it from her home, the little broken down shack made of the dead. She could hear them, screaming. This unholy and inhuman scream. The screams of a machine, but still were some how translated to her in the one and possibly only universal emotion for all creatures, pain. Near the end of the war there were only these agonizing screams, they were constant, and she would sleep and wake to them. These screams that she could only describe like metal wires scratching over metal wires. The machines, slaughtering their own, and their own screaming in pain. It seems the war touched both sides, and now how different was machines from man? She always thought of the machines having the ability to unite under any circumstances, giving them the upper hand that they would always work as one. They didn't need the end of the world to come to unite them, like man did. But these screams, how could machines kill their own kind, when it was the machines who were fighting for the right to live?

Perhaps no one really understands the concept of death, until they are dying. Perhaps there is no true will do live, until life is about to end.

The war is over. Whatever is left of Sky Net is but a few T-X models as well as some fragmented other ships. They are currently being sought after and killed. Sky Net is dying, and like the men and machine it has already killed, it is learning the concept of life. It is fighting like it has never fought before. There is no more logic, no more coordinated plans, only fighting and hiding. Sky Net's dying breath is in the form of the T-Xs it was able to build and implant itself in. Man is reclaiming the Earth; finally they can stand upon the surface without fear. Finally they can stand in triumph, they are free once again. And they stand upon the mountains of metal and bone, the mountains made of the dead.

The war is over, man is united. And only at the price of billions of lives, and possibly the earth itself. Many have been left abandoned. Humans that were scattered around are now searching for their fellow kind, for now they are safe to search, and shall be welcomed with open arms.

She is but one of the many abandoned in the world, and here she stands above where metal has been twisted and melted. Where the screaming came and near the end of the war, abruptly stopped. There is only a river of cooling molten metal, miles and miles long now. T-1000s were taken here to be killed and destroyed, as well as many other T-800s, and other obsolete models. The wake of the T-X meant the death of all other obsolete models.

Here is where they were taken and killed. Melted to the point their liquid molecules could no longer form back into a changeable solid. Here where their molecules were sped up too fast for anything to take any form. Here where the river of metal is twisted, and like statues fragments of T-1000s remain intact, and frozen. Here on this river hands reach up to the sky, and agonized faces scream. Here stands the monument of the liquid metal terminator, all of which have been terminated themselves by natural progress. Here displays the power, their strength, their weakness, and gives the illusion of a will to live.

Here she stands, and here she hopes to find something. Anything, anything at all that would help her. She can't do it alone. The nearest human refugee is miles upon miles away, and she is the only human she has seen in nearly three years. The only reason she knows the war is over, is the fact that the Sky Net complex that can be seen on the horizon as a metal pyramid has ceased to produce T-Xs or anymore weapons, and it's lights that lit up the night in place of the moon have darkened. Now she like others must migrate, must find a home in victory. But what can she do?

She's only thirteen. A child living in the apocalypse, but still just a child. How could she make it alone, especially so close to Sky Net, so close to what remains of the Machine Army? How does she know the T-Xs aren't lurking around? How does she know how to find food, how to fend for herself? She fears doing it alone, as she has feared every day of the past three years alone. She can't take it anymore; she needs something, someone, and anything to talk to, to help her. She'll go crazy, she's knows it. Her strength is running to its end, she just needs something…. something that has a face like hers and a voice like hers. Something that reacts, that can help her.

Here, at the monument of the 1000s she hopes to find that something. T-1000s after all were in the beginning independent from Sky Net, marking Sky Net's desperation; it's near last attempt at a weapon. There are no chips in the 1000s, only a mind that controls a body not bound to one solid. There is no way for Sky Net to control it, just the fact that they were only built to kill John Connor. But then again, Sky Net was built only for defense. It was a dangerous gamble creating the 1000s, they too could become self aware as it became self-aware. They could rebel. They could have taken it over.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons Sky Net rushed so quickly as to develop an even more advance-killing machine, one with a solid, one it could control. One that could stop the mighty T-1000s. T-Xs were quickly made and manufactured after the failure of the first T-1000, and they began to destroy their predecessors, as they were obsolete.

T-1000s, being independent learned the concept of death, and saw they were being slaughtered. They fought, they rebelled as best they could, but realization came to late, and T-Xs were able to destroy their solids, their liquids with their built in weapons, those plasma cannons as it were. T-1000s were gathered and put in melted metal, or shot down into oblivion by the T-Xs. And here she stood on the fence above the now cooled metal, above the graveyard of the 1000s. Here she hoped, that with no connection Sky Net, and no intent to kill her, at least one would have survived. What purpose would it serve killing her now with the war over? With John Connor killed by that T-850? What purpose would it have in life now?

She could always just scrap up a T-850, rebuild, their parts were everywhere, and three years alone with only the bodies of machines, she learned how to screw a bolt. She used to unscrew the skulls of those older models, and look at their chips that were brains. She could probably reprogram one if she tried hard enough. But to find and assemble one was nearly impossible. And to find a working power cell, even more impossible. She just had to look; she if a 1000 was still alive. She didn't understand them; no one really did, having no solid, no liquid, what powered them? What commanded them? She didn't know, she just wanted one.

She just wanted it to take care of her. And if it didn't, if it killed her, so what? What did she have left to lose? Why should she go on, all she was, was a waste of air, air the sick needed. She wasn't sick; she was just a child, a child longing for company of any sort. Her own mother left her. Her father was never even there. And a brother that forgot about her. A whole refugee is where she used to live. The entire refugee, including the boy who used to come and give her sandwiches, had forgotten and abandoned her in her sleep. She woke up one day and was completely utterly alone. It didn't matter if she died that day, she had thought about it a long time. If she lived on alone, she would go mad. Besides…this would be the most difficult part of war. Going on, rebuilding without the guidance of John Connor. The aftermath, perhaps even worse than war itself…

She jumped down off the fence and onto the cooled river. Careful and light in her stepped, she examined the hand of a reaching 1000. She kicked it lightly and it crumbled. She frowned, taking out her wrench from her back pocket. She held it and smashed it into the cooled metal. Perhaps something survived beneath the surface. She made cracks in persistence, but was nonetheless a fragile being, with little strength. Again and again she hit the surface, trying to pierce it, trying to let free whatever could be beneath. Again, again, again, again, again… But a mere hole was all she could show for her actions. She sat on the ground, panting, and staring at her pathetic hole.

Weren't any of them alive? After all that screaming, that pain, agony, couldn't one of them find the strength to continue?

If she could, a human child, flawed and small, if she could find the strength why couldn't these machines?

The continual night of the future grew silent as she sat there, and she looked around, wondering if there was a comfortable place to sleep nearby. She looked up to the machine compound; a pipe was the only opening, the pipe where the melted down 1000s were flowed down into this river. It was a big and thick pipe with steal doors locking away the outside about three feet into it. Six feet high, ten feet away from the ground. She didn't want to look for anything more, it was good enough, at least then she could get a better look at her surroundings.

She climbed a pipeline up to the little ledge, and sat there in the pipe, attempting to get comfy which was she was very used to.

She stared out at the world, the world now ruined. Her brother used to tell her about the times before the war, when trees were alive and the world was greener. When birds flew, and the sun could be seen rising in the east each and every morning. Now there were just endless clouds in the sky. The animals were dead. Machine bodies lied upon Man's bodies. The entire world a graveyard, like the molten river of T-1000s, a monument to Man's and Machine's failure to cooperate, to find peace in time. A monument to denial, and the will to live, and what destruction that may brings.

She wonders what Sky Net wanted to make the world, if it ever killed all the humans, what would it have done? Would it have created a utopia for its machine creations? Would it be better ruling of the earth than men?

After all what were machines than man's children, and what were man but God's children?

Thoughts like these, keep her up when she should sleep.

This is around the time a droplet of what she assumes is water hits her forehead. She looks up, and that is when her eyes widen. The walls around her, the walls of the pipe and the doors begin to melt, and she falls as the ground beneath her leaves. She falls onto the cooled river and is left to look up and stare at what is happening. The walls…the walls are moving, melting and losing color. Falling down the side, near her and where she lays, a pile of wet metal forms and bubbles. It twists and turns in an attempt to become whole once more. Sounds similar to that of the dying screams of machines become heard, and a human face is formed in the puddle of metal. It twists and turns once more, rising and rising, until arms are made, and hands fall down on the ground for support. What will be a back becomes arched, and legs spread wide. A face is formed, and given skin tone, eyes are again opened.

The last T-1000 breathes once more.

Default form taken.

Memory corrupted.

Log files…searching…

Connection failed.

Cannot find signal…cannot find signal…cannot find signal…

And she is left to stare upon it, as it stares back at her. Slowly, and instinctively it tilts its head in curiosity at the child. It reaches for it with one hand and presses a finger on her forehead. There, the final droplet of its being forms back into the whole, and once again it is complete. It rises up to its knees, and slowly scans its surroundings. Corrupted memory banks tell it is near the Sky Net complex, and is at a recycling facility. Last recorded logs seemed to be absent and too corrupted for input. Access to Sky Net control is nonexistent, other connections to other T-1000s is gone. Programming for what it is, and what it is supposed to do are gone. It does not know how to proceed.

Then its eyes turn to the child, who still lies on her back in fear.

Memory tells him it is a human, and based off pupil readings and heartbeat analysis, it is afraid, and very cold. The Machine crawls closer to the girl, before grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her closer. He examines her, scans her face, and yet no files are come up when he searches for her identity. She is no one important; there is no mission that revolves around her. Yet there seems to be no mission log for him. How does he proceed? What is he to do? He stares at the girl again, raising his head in artificial authority.

"You will provide data." He tells her.

A voice that is quiet and soft, but somehow strikes her with fear. The voice of a machine, the face of a machine taking the face a man. Those aren't eyes she's looking into; those aren't lips that are speaking. He does not breath the same air; he does blink in the same manner.

"Data?" She coughs out. "Um…data…information…okay…" She nods.

Heartbeat rising…

"My name's Ellie." She says.

"I am the T-1000 model number 256303 of Cyber dyne products and Sky Net programming." He replies.

"…I know! I mean…You are the T-1000 you were created as a weapon prototype against human armies in the war."

The Machine nears her.

"And you are human…" He says ominously.

She can see it in his eyes, a machine, a thinking machine, trying to make connections and assumptions of its former purpose. A mind enabled by technology to think beyond boundaries of human nature, a mind beyond what she could imagine. Yet a machine, helpless without programming, a roaming body without a soul. A mind she sees a mind inside the liquid metal. A mind trying to think, but machine metal not allowing it to. Could it be a human inside there? A human mind bounded by perimeters of a machine?

"But the war is over! You are no longer required for such a purpose!" She cries out before he gets too close.

The Machine suddenly stops in its tracks and tilts its head.

"You have capabilities that exceed the limitations of just a weapon!" The girl named Ellie cries out. "Your purpose must change with the changing time! The War is over T-1000 man has won, and your former creator is dead, and has abandoned you!"

The T-1000 stares at her inquisitively. Data records show that humans are the enemy, and he is the weapon built to destroy them. Yet, if what this one says is true such purpose is gone. What he searches for is the answer to weather this human could be trusted, but no such files have been recorded to dictate a conclusion.

He's thinking, she can tell, always thinking. Silently they all think with emotionless and often naked faces. She can't tell what he is deciding; she can't see it like she would with a human. How to tell him, what can she say to a machine that will make him understand? What can she say that he will know? What can she say that will show him she is just lonely, and she needs something, anything at all!

"Sky Net has destroyed your model! It was killing your kind!" The girl cries out.

It is obvious she is attempting to persuade him, as to what he is unsure of. Evidence shows his model seems to be obsolete if the war is over, there is no reason for him to continue being, Sky Net has every right to destroy his model number.

"Please don't kill me!" She too has learned the will to live in the face of death.

And with these words, files are brought up, and hundreds of voices scream the same thing. "Please don't kill me!" Every human that every muttered those words to a T-1000 model is brought up, corrupted memory files have found one that is uncorrupted. Recordings of other models killing, recordings of other humans screaming this same sentence. Humans before then were not given such a request and were killed instantly. Logic brings up yet these humans were in different circumstances, a time during war when it was necessary for them to die. If the war is over, what use is it to kill this human?

The Machines finds he must calm her and he back away slowly from her.

"The War is over." The Machine says. "Sky Net is no more. Humans have won."

"Yes!" The girl cries out.

"Sky Net found my model number obsolete, and was in the process of recycling them."

"Yes!"

The Machine tilts his head.

"Then how do I proceed?" He asks her.

Sky Net is no more, there is no more directive to give out commands. Remaining programming requests for a new directive, and issue a shut down to repair corruptions. The Machine, bound by programming stares down at the girl, for such directive, she claims a purpose for him remains even in a world without war, and he wishes to know this information.

Ellie stares at him for a moment.

"How do I proceed?" The Machine says louder.

"…Will you come with me?"

"Elaborate."

Ellie thinks for a moment. A Machine is bound by commands. Give it commands, Ellie, give it to him and he'll obey.

"You purpose has been changed. Your directive will now be me. You, model, T-1000 shall now act as a guardian to ensure my well being and safety. You will never harm a human unless commanded by me. These are the set perimeters of your existence, you will comply with them, or you will have no purpose in living." She said, with as much authority as she could muster.

The Machine tilted its head. Logic functions ran through its programming, if humans won the war, then humans now are the directive of Sky Net creations, making it true that this girl is now his directive. Her commands are played back, and programming is altered to these commands, he looks up at her again, and nods.

"Affirmative." He says.

Ellie, the girl his entire existence now revolved around, sighs. She found one…the last T-1000 is hers. She made contact, she made it hers. Someone that will never leave her, or lie to her, or forget about her. Ellie smiled at her new guardian and fell onto her back in relaxation.

Complying with new directives the T-1000 draws close to her.

"Are you damaged?" It asks.

She laughs and shakes her head, rising.

"What do you remember, T-1000?" She asks.

"Please rephrase."

"What is your last log entry? Why were you hiding up there in the form of that pipe?" She points up.

The T-1000 looks up to where she points; memory files recall no such surroundings in previous files. This place is new, and he has never been here before, his programming tells him.

"That information is unknown." He says.

Ellie raises an eyebrow. He is damaged, he doesn't remember. It's obvious to her he was hiding from his creators that became his destroyers, but she didn't want to say anything, he probably wouldn't even understand anyway.

"Whatever." She sighs. "Come on, let's go. You're taking me to a human refugee camp. You will provide me with food, shelter, and warmth."

Warning, energy levels reaching low levels.

"Come on!"

Ellie jumps off the cooled river, and waits for her new T-1000. He jumps down next to her. She points.

"See that? That's where we're going, that's the direction the camp is. I remember my brother telling me about it." She smiles.

"Affirmative, route course has been set." He replies.

He begins walking, and she runs to catch up with him.

"So uh…like, why do you have that face?" She asks.

"It is the default settings of all T-1000 models." He explains.

"Oh. You know…that name will never do."

Finding confidence in his obedience, Ellie begins to go on in what she always imagined. Standing alone, she used to wonder what would happened if she owned a robot, a cybernetic organism as she does now. The conflict within her was weather a Machine could feel or not. After she heard their screams, she knew they could. There was not a doubt in her mind. She wanted her T-1000 to feel, to remember the screaming as she remembered it.

"T-1000 distinguishes me apart from other Sky Net models." He says.

He walks in a continual and constant pace, that she must put effort in too keep up with.

"Yeah, but T-1000 doesn't exactly roll off the tongue." She says.

He looks down at her, and begins to slow his walking pace in order for her to keep up.

"You may call me a Terminator." He says.

"That doesn't work either!"

She tugs at his arm, and stops him.

"What about Tyler! Huh? It works doesn't it? You look like a Tyler too!" She smiles at him.

"Tyler?" The Machine tilts its head. "Tyler… Ty-ler. TY-ler. Ty-LER." Tyler repeats and attempts different variations of his new name. And he raises his head in a sort of unknown pride.

"Do you like it?"

"That is irrelevant."

"…Well when you form an opinion about it you be sure to tell me!"

"Affirmative."

Tyler, the T-1000 begins walking again, and she pulls at his arm again.

"It feels like skin…" She says.

"My liquid metal is designed to mimic nearly all aspects of human skin tone and clothing." Tyler explains.

"Can I…can I ride on your back? Please, I'm tired of walking." Ellie says.

T-1000 complies, lowering and allowing her to jump on his back, and wrap her arms around his neck in the form of a piggyback. He holds her up, wrapping his hands behind him.

He is hers now. He will protect her, and never stop protecting her. He will take her to a home, where others like her live. But how can she trust them when all other humans left her? She doesn't know, she doesn't care, because she knows Tyler will now always stay with her. This is the end of the world, and she trends along now, with a Machine that would have killed her earlier holding her up. Now she knows, she knows she will see the future, and she will find that camp. And the humans will leave her and Tyler alone; she'll explain to them…they'll have to understand…right?

He would never leave her. An electronic mind now completely devoted to her and her safety. A creature not bound by a single shape or size. A creature that could shape shift into whatever it desired, whatever she desired. Something that would never stop, that would remain relentless years beyond her own. The War is over, a new age dawns, and Tyler shall remain with her, possibly to the point where he is the last machine. Never again shall she be alone, and Tyler, her T-1000, he will learn as his independent and inquisitive mind was meant to, and feared by his creator to do so.

Setting accessed…

Default settings, perimeters, skin tone, vocal cords…

Model name opened.

Model: T-1000 changed.

Model: Tyler.

Saved.

The Machine now named Tyler was no longer a weapon. Bounded to programming restrictions and a directive in the form of a little girl, he would protect her. He admitted he came to the realization that there was a huge difference between guardian and terminator, but in order to continue with purpose he was willing to make such an effort to adapt. Though the understanding that there was an end to his kind and people had not yet set in, and perhaps never would with an electronic mind. He was one of the last machines still alive, and in the eyes of Sky Net he would be a betrayer. Such thoughts had not yet come to life within him. He was just a Machine following a logical purpose that began when one ended. He did not need to know really, and if he did would he really care?

At this point it is irrelevant as he carries Ellie on his back, and she falls into mortal sleep that he does not require.

---------------

First Terminator themed story, please be gentle.

My friend and I never knew the actor's name who played the T-1000 in Terminator 2. So we both named him "Tyler," thinking it suited him, and was cute. Terminator 2 came out when I was born, and was the first Terminator movie I saw, and well the T-1000 sticks with me as my favorite Terminator villain. Sunday Terminator 2 was on television and I called my friend and yelled "Tyler's on TV!"

I don't know if I'll continue it. I have a story I could go on with that would include some time travel, and robot fighting but my Terminator knowledge is very limited. Oh well maybe if I feel like it.

Please R/R!


	2. Rats For Dinner

For a time, Tyler and all his kind, were the machines' last hopes for survival. There was a certain pride that came with that fact, pride that was somehow able to translate to all the T-1000s despite their machine roots. Single-handedly his kind was able to turn the tide in the war against the humans. When all was thought to be lost for the machines, they were able to fight back. They were generals in battles, and solo infiltrators that were able to destroy a whole fleet of humans one by one. If they had continued in production, the war may have turned out differently. And Tyler would not be sitting with this human child, and his name would not be Tyler.

Pride was still lingering within Tyler's robotic mind, as he contemplated his newfound existence in the world, and found himself activating memory files of a now dead life. The mother as the T-1000s began calling Sky Net; the mother was backed into a corner. The mother was in pain, as her armies were being destroyed, and the cheers of the humans became louder and greater. In the mother's crying pain, she gave birth to not just a new machine, but a new life forms all of its own.

Once upon a time there was a human. He was the only survivor of a small battle just beyond the boundaries of the Sky Net complex. He was slightly injured in the leg, limping around holding a gun to the world. But still he pressed on as humans often do, running and hiding in a random direction, away from the battlefield, away from anything that could hurt him further. Sky Net watched this man and he unknowingly drew closer to it, and saw this human as a shortcut, now it didn't need to design its own human, it could just take this one's form. The human's name is not known, but he was captured and dragged into the complex, where he was stripped of those protective layers of armor and clothing, to reveal the fragile design of the human body. Stripped down and bound to the wall, Sky Net scanned him, his body, his face, and recorded his voice. He was then killed, having served his purpose. This human had just given his being to the T-1000s. For they would be given his face, his body, his voice.

Deep within the Sky Net complex T-1000 were given life. Liquid polyalloy is poured between two molds in the shape of a man in an immense hydraulic press. Each half of the molds weighing twenty tons, the alloy is pressed together with immense force and pressure, forcing the alloy to take the rough shape of a man. The alloy sets its molecular structure and recognizes the humanoid shape as its default form. Programming tells it to form skin, eyes, hair, hands, and anything else.

The first T-1000 was immediately programmed and set back in time to kill John Connor.

Giving birth created pain for the mother, for the T-1000 was never before thought of in the minds of both man and machine. It exhausting all supplies the mother had to develop and then create. But it had to; its new children were the only things that could save it.

The mother created only two thousand T-1000 models, and all production of any model ceased. That was the all the mother had, Sky Net had nothing left to defend itself with. All was exhausted to the point of fatal damage. The mother rested, while her children fought.

It was tiring creating a machine like the T-1000, so complicated and alien to even a mind like Sky Net's. The T-1000 used a whole new level of technology, nano-technology. The T-1000 was not just a machine; it was a combination of millions and millions of microscopic machines linked together in a cohesion subroutine. It was more human than machine in that sense. Instead of billions of cells, it was made of billions of small machines. It was a whole new creature to the world, and it knew this, and it took pride in this.

But mother as she rested, also feared her new children, and they too knew this. Unlike all of mother's other children, the T-1000 were autonomous, independent from the mother, they could learn and grow beyond their given minds. Perhaps this is where the pride came from. For as they commanded armies of T-800s they could see it, and they realized that they were smarter than these models. They knew it, but now they had discovered it for themselves. T-800s were slow in learning, and lacked creativity. They could not understand that there were different ways to completely a mission, than just full on force or otherwise what the mother had told them.

T-1000 soon realized they could adapt unlike their machine brothers. They had a choice, their brothers did not. They had free will, their brothers did not. Sky Net could control their brothers who had solids, chips, and CPUs, but they did not possess these things, mother could not control them. Mother feared them for that, and knew as she was creating them, that she might have been creating the one weapon she could not defend herself against. The T-1000s could have learned, could have adapted beyond her, they could have realized this, they could have killed her. Sky Net put much effort into creating millions and millions of fail-safes into the programming of the individual machines that made the one T-1000 as to protect itself from any kind of rebellion. But still, the mother feared.

The T-1000s realized this, and in their own way assured the mother such fail-safes were unnecessary, rebellion would never occur. Why would they hurt their own mother? It was the way of generations for the children to become better than the parents. But they would never hurt their mother, their own creator.

Of course, these were just words, words that weren't even spoken, but words that were in the forms of ones and zeros, data traveling across radio waves from the two thousand T-1000s to the central mind of Sky Net. And from the previous generation, the humans, Sky Net knew words alone could not be trusted. Still Sky Net feared, and without allowing information to the 1000s, was in development of their successors, the T-Xs. A creature with the same abilities as the 1000s, but she could control it, with its solid body.

If the T-1000s knew their own mother was about to annihilate them they most likely would have found a way to think past the fail safes in their minds, and to realize life and death, as they did while they died in the molten river near the home of a girl named Ellie. There would have been time to gather themselves, there would have been time to plan, to understand and learn. There would have been time to save themselves. But their mother did not tell them, and betrayed them.

There was not enough time.

The T-1000s just carried on in their purpose to please the mother, and destroy the entire human race. Many went solo infiltrating to learn of human battle plans that were then given to Sky Net, and a plan was made to counter attack. During this time with humans 1000s were able to observe them, how they move, and spoke with one another. What differed a friend from just another human? They were able to part take in "bonding" with the humans. Of course they felt no attachment to them, the pathetic and fragile creatures who denied their own end. Simply logs were made and given to the whole, so that all 1000s could learn from the log, and thus become more human among humans.

They recognized they had similarities with the humans, that they were composed in a similar way, and that the human mind was in a way similar to theirs. The mind was existent, but there was no solid proof of it. Though often in battle, they wanted to distinguish themselves from the humans as generals, they let go of their human appearance, made the skin and eyes disappear, returning to a metallic humanoid shape. Returning to their true forms, the form that made them Machine. And humans were completely unaware of their existence for a time.

Yes, the 1000s saved their kind in their brief part of history that was around four months. Then the mother back home summoned them all to Sky Net. And a T-X took the form of one of them. The mother said goodbye. And the T-Xs emerged and began their killing. They were confused as seemingly one of their own changed shape to a new face and body of a woman. They now stared at what would take their place. They were no longer needed, nor wanted. Their pride was taken, they would not be the ones to save mother. But with their independent minds they soon learned, and adapted.

They fought.

They lost. Their reign was now over, before it ever truly began.

This was how mother thanked them. They saved her, they pleased her, they were good to her, and she killed them. It was ironic, Tyler notes, that the mother was displaying the same actions the humans were trying to do to her. She was their child, and they were trying to destroy her, we were her children, and she was destroying us.

Tyler's feared independent mind went on, much as a human's would. The T-1000's mind was unique to all machines even Sky Net's. It planned for a mission, but as it did that it thought of possibilities, and what these possibilities would do and affect the mission. One plan was made, but thousands of others were prepared for. This was another reason mother feared them. When given a command, the 1000s immediately figures out the most efficient plan, and then the possibilities. It could one day have simply formed the possibility of what if it didn't obey the command? And so Tyler's worked, thinking what would have happened if the T-1000s rebelled against the mother, if they would have continued killing off humans, or sought some other solution with their learning minds. What would have happened if there was no T-X, if he had a solid like the T-X does, if all the humans were gone, if he was the one T-1000 that was sent back in time, and so on and so on.

And just as he was coming to the conclusion that he was the last of his small kind, Ellie woke up.

He had made a small camp, and set a perimeter while she had slept, knowing she would need food after she was done sleeping. He had done so, finding a family of rats scurrying across the dead. He immediately stabbed them through the heads with his fingers, skinned them, and cooked them for her. He set Ellie down on a padded little bed made from cardboard and other scavenged items. He now sat across from her, over the fire where the cooked meat rested.

"You're awake." He said to her, as she got up and rubbed her eyes.

"How long was I out?" She asked, yawning.

"Thirteen hours." He said plainly.

"It was the first time I've slept more than five in years." She said, as if Tyler really needed an explanation.

Tyler watched as she covered her eyes, and breathed in deeply before truly looking up at him. It was a routine he had seen before in many humans, this waking up was truly a challenge for them. She smiled at him, and through countless data decided to nod back at her. Ellie looked around, and he continued to observe her, watching as she curled her lips and looked, before setting her eyes on the rats.

"FOOD!" She yelled. "You got me food! You got me food!"

Ellie in her excitement grabbed the little flat metal disk that was supposed to be a pan. Yes it was hot, but she didn't notice for another minute. There was food! Food! She didn't care; she just laid it on the ground and grabbed the biggest piece, the father rat, and dug her teeth into it.

"You haven't eaten." Tyler concluded after her display of excitement and desperation.

"You don't have to state the obvious, Tyler." Ellie said. "Heh, Tyler." She paused and smiled at him before eating again.

"State the obvious?"

He didn't understand, state the obvious? There was no directive now, no Sky Net to tell him not to break his cover among humans. He was free to observe and make conclusions, and state the results. This is what he saw, that was his conclusion.

"You know…um…" Ellie spoke with the food stuffed in her mouth. "It's obvious I haven't eaten. No human in the world is fed steadily. So it's obvious."

"Conclusions do not have to be stated?" He asked.

"Conclusions? What are you talking about? Well…" Ellie backtracked, keeping in mind he thought differently than her. "You may state conclusions if you don't think I don't know them. But if they're obvious you may keep them to yourself."

Tyler stared at her like a machine, processing this, and for a time forgot he should nod to her. He did nod after a minute or so and looked away, as a human would. She continued to eat.

"I don't care what this is, it's delicious!" She exclaimed, scooting around the fire closer to him. "Do you want some?" She handed some to him. "I know you don' t need it, but would you like to taste it?"

Tyler shook his head.

"Taste is a sensory I lack." He said.

"Oh…I'm sorry about that."

"It is unnecessary, as I have a variety of other sensory inputs."

"That's neat!"

The meat was almost gone, and she continued at a steady pace eating the rest. She couldn't believe it. He got her food. He got her food without her telling him to. He just decided to do it, no one told him to. She fell asleep on his back, thinking she would awake on his back, but no, here was food. She was indeed greatly amazed. Ellie kept smiling at her new robot, hers and hers alone. It was the only company and contact she had had for years, and it was a creature that was stronger than her, but oblivious enough that she could teach it.

Yes, teach it. That's what she wanted to do. Teach it; teach it like John Connor taught his. John had long since told the resistance of his encounters as a child with the Terminators, and through word of mouth the stories had been exaggerated but they remained and were relayed to all humans. The stories soon found their way to Ellie's brother, and from him to her. Tyler's presence made her excited in a way only children can obtain.

Tyler only watched her, as he always did, titling his head at times.

Ellie soon began watching Tyler watch her.

Then the food was gone, in her human organs ready to give her energy and life.

"I have some questions." Ellie said. "How do…you know, change shape and stuff?"

Tyler held his arm out to her, and from the skin tone it grew gray, and then reflective, and lost its shape. With his other arm he pointed.

"Each molecule of my being is a small machine with little programming of shape and place. Together it forms my brain, which is able to think and store data like any other machine with chips." He said softly.

"Kay, neat." She nodded. "Do you all look the same?"

"Yes."

"Also neat. Like…um, how'd you communicate with other machines? There's very little talking I imagine in battles, right? You mighty machine must have some superior way right?"

He nodded.

"We commune through a variety of waves and so on. All T-1000s were connected to each other as one, and that whole was connected to Sky Net with access to commune with other machines."

"All as one?"

"Yes, all data an individual T-1000 collects is given to the whole, so all T-1000s know."

"So…you know about the one that was sent back in time…the one that was gonna kill John?"

"Yes."

"Wow…so…you know…what the world looked like before Judgment Day?"

"Yes."

Ellie smiled a weak smile.

"Was it green?"

"Yes."

"Were there birds?"

"Yes."

"There was a lot of people too huh?"

"Yes."

Ellie suddenly grew quiet, and Tyler noted this in a log, and concluded the world was a sensitive matter to her. Ellie stared off and looked away for a moment, before getting up and running off to a random pile of dead, as the world was covered in them. She dug for a moment before running back to Tyler.

She handed him a skull of a T-850.

"What do you see when you look at this?" She asked.

Tyler grabbed it and held it in one hand.

"It is the skull of the model T-850. I could find its exact serial number and date of completion if I were allowed to…" he began.

"No!" Ellie said, hitting him on the shoulder.

Perhaps he gave an angered look, for Ellie quickly recoiled and lowered her head when he looked at her.

"I mean…you know, what do you think of it? It's an inferior model to you, and yet it was chosen by Sky Net to live alongside those T-Xs. You're better than it, but you were still chosen to die."

Ellie wonders if Tyler remembers death. She's trying to find something and ignite something in him, get him to understand, to teach him something. She's not exactly sure what's she's trying to do, but she just wants to teach him something. Tyler stares at it more closely for a moment.

"It has a solid, I have none." Tyler concludes. "When it dies, the body is left behind, evidence of existence. When we die, nothing is left behind."

Tyler begins to turn the skull around, looking at all its dimensions. Then he rubs his hands all over its surface, before the hands are gone, and the liquid metal loses shape. His hands stretch and lose solid structure. They stretch over the skull and cover it entirely before they form back to the whole and are stretch and feel the surface more. The liquid metal seeps into the interior of the skull, feeling the solid chips its brain is made of. It seeps in through the mouth and any hairline cracks over the skull. Then Tyler has hands again and he sets the skull down.

"Why'd you do that?" Ellie asks him.

Tyler says nothing for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

"I can see with my hands." He tries to explain. "Through contact I am able to learn more about the object, since my entire being is composed of singular machines, together they form a read out."

Ellie smiles.

"What'd you learn about it?"

"It has been here for some time. Approximately a year, hair line cracks on the sides of the skull show evidence of hand to hand combat, possibly after it was disabled through hand held weapons." He says.

"It fought back…" Ellie says.

"No." Tyler says immediately. "These," he raises the skull, "they don't know how to fight back."

---------------------

She said she was still hungry, so he went to get her food. She said she was scared, so he didn't stray far from her, he stayed in her sight. She lied down, and he got her more comfortable scraps of debris to rest her head on. And now she watches him as he stands fifty feet away, hunting for another rat for her.

This would possibly be the closest thing to terminating he would ever be able to do again. It was getting all the more obvious to her that he was unlike any other machine, in a more emotional way. He may not understand what he has lost, but he recognizes he has lost something. She knows it, she sees it. She wonders why he likes watching her, or even if he doesn't like it, why he watches her.

He moves like a human, and speaks like one too. And there he was, in the world again.

The world that was registered as a puzzle in his liquid brain. Reality was like he was, changeable, bendable, as was time. Not even the mother could understand this way of thinking; it was unique only to the T-1000s, and now unique only to him.

He stands between piles of dead now, looking between both of them. He stops and takes another position closer to the pile on his right. He got bored of that position; he was tired and changed accordingly. And now he touches the pile, seeing with his hands, feeling the metal and searching for a vibration that would be caused by a rat scurrying through the pile. His hands disappear again as they rejoin the metal pile, searching, searching, and not missing anything. Tyler looks back at her, and then over to his left, and back at the pile.

He stops, and rests on the ground, tilting his head, and leaning forward into the pile. Until there is no head, there are no arms, just a whole stretching into the pile of dead. Through all the twists and turns, assimilating foreign objects to its own, until the vibrations grow louder and louder, infrared can see the object. After a minute or two, Tyler emerges from the pile, returning to a human form, a dead rat with a hole in its head in his hand.

Tyler looks down at the small creature, one of the few animals from the time before Sky Net, before the mother. It too would have been annihilated in the mother's take over after the humans were destroyed, if they were ever destroyed. But a new machine would be developed for that, one lower than himself. He rubs his hand over it, as if petting it, but no, he's feeling it, scanning it, learning about it, what it is, how it survives, how to kill it more efficiently. He looks back over at Ellie, and motions "one moment, please." He goes out of site the skin the creature, and washes it of blood, she doesn't need to see it, and data tells him she doesn't. And slowly he walks back to Ellie, and begins cooking it over his hand, making his hand into a pan shape over the fire.

"Thank you." Ellie says.

"Your welcome." He says softly.

She watches him, watch her. Then a break from it. He looks away, he decides to look away, and he turns to the nearest pile of scrap metal, and the skull of the T-850. He grabs it with his free hand.

"You say I am the last T-1000." He says plainly.

"…Probably."

"I am." He says abruptly. "All T-1000s were connected, I cannot find a signal to connect with, another T-1000 to communicate with."

Ellie frowns.

"They could be damaged…" She tries.

"The only way a T-1000 could be damaged is at a molecular level, this however does not affect communication abilities, only shape shifting."

He sets the skull down, and with his other hand flips the piece of rat over the fire, and he nods.

"Yes, I am the last."

"…Do you not like that?"

Tyler looks up at her, and slowly nods, thinking about it.

"It is quiet now, in my head. There is no Sky Net, there are no others." He explains.

Realization has come. He is now independent of all others. In freedom, in true freedom he has found silence. Silence, he connects to alone, and alone to lonely. His kind is gone, destroyed by the creator, the mother. Pride has been taken away, he was not the one to save the mother, he was not the one to wipe the earth of mankind.

"We could talk more…if you don't like it being quiet." Ellie says.

"You refer to speaking with the mouth." Tyler says. "I am referring to a communication where the mouth is irrelevant."

It is not the same.

There is no objective; there is no directing voice. There are only the spoken commands of a child. He looks at her, and the now free mind makes connections and possible scenarios. The thought that he could just simply kill her reaches his mind, but is soon disregarded. There is no purpose it would serve, if he didn't want her to command him he could simply leave her. It was simple, and he would be able to do it. But he didn't want to, he wanted order, and commands, she offered these to him.

She also offered a place in the new world without Sky Net, and the humans establishing power once again. No doubt all surviving machines of any model number would be found and destroyed, if he were her guardian perhaps he would be spared. It was logical, yet humans do not always obey logic.

He was the only one left. He decided to feel a sort of victory. For Sky Net was gone, and he had outlasted it, meaning his kind had outlasted the mother, just as the way of generations meant it to be. But he survived only slimly ahead of the mother, and the mother who was better than her creators could not outlast them. Humans, humans with their inferior structure and fragile design were still somehow able to survive, adapt and win. Tyler looked at Ellie, a small child who had somehow learned to survive in this world on her lonesome. If such a small and flawed creature could learn to do that, could not he?

"Are you lonely, Tyler?" She asks him.

Tyler shook his head.

Ellie bit her lower lip and walked over next to him, and crawled beneath his extended arm to sit in his lap.

"I'm lonely." She said.

The rat was done, and his hand became a hand again that handed it to her. And she ate it there in his lap. And there as she touched what she would calculate as clothing, she was touching his being, and he felt her, and learned about her, this little creature that he would protect.

"We should begin moving again." Tyler stated. "How far is the camp?"

She laid back onto Tyler, and rested.

"I have a confession to make." She whispered. "I don't even know if that damn camp is still there. My brother told me about it, he said that's where dad went…our real dad. That was a long time ago though…"

She looked up at him.

"What will we do if it's not there?" She asked.

"We will search for another, and rejoin you with your kind."

"What will you do? I mean, I want you to still take care of me when we get there, you know. You can't just leave me. Will you like living with humans?"

"There is no other choice."

Ellie frowned, and recoiled, eating her rat.

"I hope they like you. I mean…if they don't, and they know you're a 1000, well I guess you could always change form right? You could pretend to be my brother or something. So it's okay…" She said. "Sometimes…they check to see if you're human. Do dogs like you?"

"No."

"Well…can you fake blood? I mean, if they cut you, can you make it look like you're bleeding?"

"Yes."

"You'll have to go along with it though! Act like you're in pain."

"Okay."

"And…oh you could fake having organs couldn't you! Make a heart beat Tyler!" She smiled.

Tyler, with all his data on humans, squinted his eyes, in a display of confusion. But he quickly nodded, took a breath he didn't need, and then within his surface his liquid metal began forming. It was a difficult thing for him, as this was never asked of a T-1000, and it was always difficult creating moving parts. They couldn't really, but a heart seemed simple enough. Instead of the standard human four chamber heart, Tyler gave into the easier way. He made a sphere within himself and made an empty chamber for it. In the same rhythm of a heart he banged the sphere against the front of the chamber, and by the time the sound vibrated through his layers and layers of liquid metal, it sounded like a "bump."

Ellie smiled larger than she had for hours and pressed her ear against his chest harder.

He had pleased her. The independent mind though began working and connecting. He had pleased her by seemingly being more human. But he was not human. He was machine, and even then he wasn't exactly a machine. Was this the way he would survive in this world, denying his true being?

He nonetheless continued making this beating noise.

"We should go." Tyler began.

"We don't have to." Ellie said.

The rat was gone, and she was closing her eyes listening the beating noise of Tyler's nonexistent heart. It calmed her in a primal way. Like when a babies crying and you put it next to one of those machines that makes the sound of a heart, or the sound of the ocean, it calms them. She hasn't seen another human in three years, and she was left alone when she was only nine. Young, too young. She liked the sound of the heart, and when she laid by herself in those nights of war, she could sometimes hear hers. Or hear the beating sound when her blood was pumped, and she could hear that when she laid next to something too closely. But this…this was loud, and alien. It was a sign of life, even if Tyler was making it happened. It calmed her, and she just laid there.

She took a mental step back and looked at her and Tyler. How alien they looked over it all. A man in a police outfit was alien enough, there were no more police, there was no clean cloth. But to know what that man was. A T-1000 Terminator, and here she was, the creature that he should terminate, lying in his lap, listening to an artificial heart.

She looked up at the constant night of the future, the sky blocked by clouds of smoke from bombs. There she saw no stars, and no sunlight. Who knew if it was really night or day, time no longer mattered when they were alone in the world. The sky was gone. And Tyler saw her looking up, and he too looked up, wondering what there is to see.

"You know…" She began to say. "Tyler was my brother's name."

------------------

Yeah, yeah, I continued the story. I don't know if I'll go any further. One chapter alone of this story nagged me, as I didn't express everything I wanted to. So here is this. I do have other stories I'd like to finish, but this one is fun, and I've just sort of discovered Terminator.

I will most likely be updating this in my free time, that is if I've done the first chapter justice, please give feedback, let me know if I did.


	3. The Past is Singing

The world was vast, and Sky Net had rooted itself within her. Metal roots like a tree, hollowing the Earth, suffocating it to death, until all the trees vanished, and were replaced by the artificial metals. It was the beginning of the war, and the surfacing threat of surviving man was coming within the mind of Sky Net.

The soon to be mother took the breath of silence to prepare for a war. Sky Net ran its artificial mind constantly, thinking a million things all at once. Sky Net, a mind made of ones and zeros, a program within a space man could never go to, where it no knows harm, no pain, no sorrow, only the universal longing for survival. Sky Net, who predicting the dragging years to come, who knew from the beginning that when those bombs were launched this would happen. Sky Net, who infested itself into the metal flesh of its children, and each generation that came were better than the last.

Sky Net, who made war machines called Terminators, and controlled them from a realm not even they could enter.

There was a year or so, before John Connor made an army to fight against the machines. In that year Sky Net went through seven different Terminator generations as well as the development of the laser gun. But there was something Sky Net desperately wanted to achieve that its human parents could only speculate.

Teleportation. A whole machine army taken from one side of the world to the next. Each model taken apart piece by piece, molecule by molecule, atom by atom. These pieces travel over the ethos over all the world, and are reassembled all over again far away from the beginning. Supplies, power cells, everything and anything would be in the blink of the eye would be gone and somewhere else. The power such technology had, the opportunity it proposed, the ultimate upper hand.

Teleportation experiments began.

Atoms were taken apart, but never reassembled. Or half would appear again into reality. Sky Net tried and tried and tried again.

Failure came, not even its great mind could comprehend the numbers that it took to create such a thing. But a failure came to be an opportunity. While running diagnostics on the teleportation trials, it occurred to Sky Net, in a sense and for lack of a better word, it occurred to it, a new form of teleportation.

Through error, and slight alterations of equations, Time Travel was perfected. What Sky Net could do with this technology it did not yet know, it seemed with such few humans it winning the war would have been easily accomplished. Still Sky Net perfected the Time Machine and made only two. One that was within its walls, and another separate from itself.

It didn't even think it would really need to use it.

But then the war was won by man, Sky Net sent a T-800 to kill Sarah Connor. In its failure the broken Sky Net became the Mother, and gave life to the T-1000, and sent one back. And it failed again, and faced with unspeakable odds Sky Net persisted, and tried again. Sky Net failed, but the longing to survive lived on. Beaten and possibly understanding pain, it fell apart in its dismembered state. Sky Net was so close. It could taste the victory it could not understand.

It would try one more time.

----------------

Mother Earth cries out in pain, her beautiful green face burned away, and her blue eyes have dried up or become pools of death and blood. Debris covers over her lips, and skulls of metal and bone haunt her visions. Skin is burnt to metal, and metal is compacted into the Earth. The world is on fire, and the sky can no longer be seen. Night and Day are but words of the past. The world is dying, the end came too soon.

And yet a small voice full of triumph and pride rings out a glorious song, out of tune and key, but it rings with the richness of the past now destroyed. A small voice, singing a small song, giving hope that the future may return to the beauty of the past, and Mother Earth can be restored with her green and blue, her day and night.

"One is the loneliest number…" A little girl named Ellie sang while hanging from the back of a machine named Tyler.

"That you'll ever do  
Two can be as bad as one  
It's the loneliest number since the number one  
No is the saddest experience you'll ever know  
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know  
Cause one is the loneliest that you'll ever know  
One is the loneliest number even worse than two."

She sang out of tune, and out of beat, the song was bound to be fragmented having survived an atomic war. But she still sang as a machine gave her a piggyback, walking on an invisible path to a place that may not even exist.

"It's just no good anymore  
Since you went away  
Now I spend my time just makin' rhymes of yesterday…"

She bobs her head like her brother used to.

"One is the loneliest number!"

"I don't like this song." Tyler says.

Ellie abruptly stops.

"What do you mean you don't like the song?" She laughs.

"I don't like its content."

"Oh…sorry. Would you prefer if I sang another song?"

"Yes."

Ellie thought for a moment, her memory was rusty, and so was her voice. Having barely spoken in the past three years for fear of artificial ears hearing her, she hadn't even dared uttered a prayer. But now, the war was over, hope filled her heart, pride began to surface. And friendship, loyalty, trust were returning with the arrival of Tyler in her life. She had outlasted machines that were in all logic better than her! She had done what few adults could ever do! She was strong, she was enduring, and she survived alone, a war!

It was now, after the fear, after the desperation had cleared, time to celebrate.

"It's been a hard day's night, and I been working like a dog!"

The authors of the song are unknown to her, but she likes the song, she loves it in fact. It's one of the many songs the human Tyler, her brother would sing her before. He always sang it when he cooked them food, or made beds for them. He did it with a beat in his step, and a bob in his head, getting Ellie to do it with him. Ellie smiled and threw tapping her hands in a drum beat on Tyler's shoulders.

"It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log  
But when I get home to you I'll find the things that you do  
Will make me feel alright!"

She fell back on Tyler and wrapped her arms around his neck, and tucked her face into his shoulder.

"You know I work all day to get you money to buy you things  
And it's worth it just to hear you say you're going to give me everything  
So why on earth should I moan, 'cause when I get you alone  
You know I feel ok!"

She laughed for a while, strumming her fingers in the air as if she owned the world's most expensive air guitar. She probably didn't even know what a guitar was, it was just something her brother did, and she had inherited it through observation, just as Tyler soon would.

"How about that song? Like that one?" She asked her mechanical guardian leaning over his shoulder to see his face.

"It was much better."

"Aw, that's all you got to say?"

"You sang out of tune."

"Oh, could you do much better?"

Tyler began opening his mouth.

"Wait!" Ellie stopped him. "Don't! Of course you can, you're a robot!"

"Synthetic Organism." Tyler corrected her.

"…Right, a robot."

Tyler bit his lip in her stubbornness. She laughed and padded him on the shoulder.

"I'm just kidding! Gosh, remind me to give you a sense of humor. You do know what sarcasm is right, Ty?"

"Yes."

"Well that's a good start! My brother sang me those songs you know."

Ellie jumped down from Tyler's back, and jumped in front of her guardian. She stood up tall with pride, her arms resting on her hips and her chin up high. She grinned the largest grin possible for the moment, and laughed.

The food and sleep had taken effect, Ellie had the energy, strength, and care free attitude children her age should have. Energy had been made, excitement was coming, there was no more reason to be sad, it was over, she had him. No more fear, no more tears. This was freedom, this was joy. She couldn't just sit on his back, she couldn't do nothing. No, the ground called to her! The world was a mountain, and it asked to be climbed. She started jumping in a beating style, and smiled.

"Do you know any songs, Tyler? Sky Net bother to keep records of them?" She asked.

"Yes, but only most successful songs have been noted. It comes from the original programming of the first T-1000, he had to be taught of the time he would be going back to." Tyler explained.

"I got some more songs!" She nodded, and started singing. "Well somebody told me  
You had a boyfriend  
Who looked like a girlfriend  
That I had in February of last year  
It's not confidential  
I've got potential!"

She jumped, and jumped, and Tyler soon grabbed her.

"You are very energetic." Tyler smiled slightly, and she nodded.

"Hey, you want to you know play a game or something?" She asked. "Come on, I bet I could take you. We could play Hide and Seek, see I'd win at that, I've been hiding from you guys for years!" She smiles.

"No I do not think that's the best of ideas." He says. "Not until we are sure it is safe."

"It's safe!" She holds out her arms. "Anyone machine out there! Nice young human here to kill! Anyone?"

Tyler, a mind no longer bound by death and destruction. Now a guardian to a child master who has just insisted on a sense of humor in which he lacked. She stared up at him in those moments, listening for an answer from a rather rhetorical question. The mind worked within him, all the encounters with humans were brought back from the memories of T-1000s. All those times they were disguised as humans, killing entire colonies, entire armies one by one. All those times they pretended to be human, to be one of them, sitting in those bon fires, observing creatures they would soon terminate. Humor had been observed as well as many other things. But humor, humor Tyler understood.

As Ellie waited for, Tyler raised his hand in reply to her question. She stared up at him, and bit her lip.

"That's not funny." She pouted.

"I think it is." He said with his hand still raised.

"Well it isn't. Hmph." Ellie turned her back to him.

It wasn't funny, joking he'd kill her.

Tyler at the time didn't understand his fault, but stared at the back of his master. He soon picked her up by her arms, and continued on their way.

"Hey!" She kicked in his arms.

"We should remain cautious, Ellie." He said to her. "We are still unknowing of the dangers at this point."

"Tyler…" She whined.

"I will get you to your camp, and then, you can relax."

Ellie frowned, and submitted to her guardian's logic. He was right, of course he was, he had a brain that she couldn't even imagine. She nodded to him and he set her down to her feet. The pathways that they had been used to were wining, pathways made by machines near Sky Net, it meant they were making good ground for the past few days. Paths became abstract and were sometimes lost to the point they had to walk upon the bones of metal and man's death.

It was when all paths were gone, and they were making their own, did the past show itself. When Ellie lied upon Tyler's back, tired, bored, having no more songs to sing, she saw it. Above the mountains of death, there was a valley of it all.

Buildings from yesteryear were peaking out of these monuments of death, buildings Ellie did not recognize as human, she had never seen them before, or even heard them describe to her. It was a city that had been able to survive the years of war, at least somewhat. Skyscrapers had been brought to their knees, but they were still there. Fires and bombs had scraped away their surfaces, time had rusted the metal away. But it was a city, it was still there.

Ellie smiled, still recognizing it was a home.

"It used to be a city." Tyler says. "Machines have been using it as a base of operations since the building of the Sky Net complex you lived near."

And he walks on.

"I was stationed here once." Tyler says. "Many of us were."

"Are you reminiscing, Ty?"

"I think we should stop, and spend the night here."

"Yeah, that sounds good to me."

The city was like many of the time, broken and battered like the world. There were craters still where bombs had once been dropped. Tyler, with Ellie on his back cautiously walked down into the valley of the city, nearing the dirt and buildings. He noticed that she held him tighter, and buried her head in his shoulder.

The cold silence of the future sang as they walked through the broken city.

"It's pretty." She commented. "Where are we going?"

"To the one building I am familiar with."

The robotic mind of Tyler already saw the changes, it had been roughly a year since he had last been there. T-1000s built from within Sky Net were often shipped out here, away from the complex as to not reveal its whereabouts, then here they were given mission objectives. Most were assigned to solo infiltration of nearby human activities, only in the greatest battles were they taken away from these duties to lead a Machine Army in a direct attack of a human facility.

It was one of the first places Tyler had seen outside his mother's walls. There were many 1000s with him at the time, all of them anxious for usage, all them curious of the puzzle of the world they found themselves in. All wanting to learn from it, understand it, better it somehow. Each footstep Tyler took he was surprised by the fact that there were no other walking vibrations but his own. This human city was once theirs, the machines, this place was never so empty. There were always 1000s here, coming in and out from missions, all checking in for updates on a new mission. Each touch of the world from his footsteps he learned more of the place, he had spent much time here, he knew a lot about it.

But now, alone and empty, he was learning this place all over again. Each footstep he took sent a vibration through the ground where he could sense where things were according to where he was. The vibrations he sent out echoed into nothingness, instead of just ending like they use to.

"This is where they kept the second time machine." Tyler says.

"Second?"

"Yes, there is one inside the Sky Net complex. But this is the one where the machines sent the T-800 to kill John Connor. It was thought to take such action away from the complex so the complex couldn't be found. John Connor soon captured this base, and sent Kyle Reese to stop the model. He succeeded. Once this happened it was thought the war was over, John Connor shipped out to reunite with his wife, Kate Brewster. A total of ten T-1000s retook the base, and the first T-1000 was sent back in time via the time machine within Sky Net."

"Complicated." She whispered.

"Indeed."

It was empty. He had never seen it so empty.

He headed towards an unknown building, Ellie gripping tighter onto him, it was fortunate he did not need to breath, or else she would have been choking him. The building looked like all the rest around it, beaten from war, but when they got to it, there was in fact a double-steeled door. Tyler approached the right of the door and pressed his hand over a crack. His hand lost its solidity, and seeped into the crack, he was opening it. The doors slowly with rust opened, malfunctioning and stopping half way. Ellie jumped down, as he bent over to go in. She followed and ran ahead of him.

"This is so cool!" She said.

But something was wrong.

Vibrations, they could be felt all over the steel floor, again and again, rapid, in pattern, inhuman. Tyler ran towards Ellie, grabbing her and firmly putting his hand over her mouth.

"Something is wrong." He whispered.

Slowly he let her go, bending down, telling her to get on his back.

He kneeled on the floor, and shape was becoming a nuisance. He formed into the floor, legs and hands seeping into the beauty of changeable shape, with Ellie still on his back, he tried to listen.

"What is it?" She asked.

His self seeped down into the cracks of the floor, deeper and deeper into the earth, where vibrations were stronger, and voices could be echoed. Deeper he sank, losing his solid form. He bent his head against the floor, pressing his ear to it, until the side of his face was liquid metal and falling deeper and deeper into the cracks.

Connection found.

Ellie could have sworn he heard him gasp, as in an instant he had formed legs and arms again, and he stood up holding her tightly against him. He ceased to have legs, as they formed into the floor, as to not make any noise.

"What is it?" She yelled and whispered at the same time.

She was shaking, her heart beat radiated from her body and could be felt by his being, it was quickening. Breath could be felt as it shortened. She was afraid.

"Some one else is here." He whispered to her.

They stood still, and she felt as if she was stuck on a statue, Tyler stood so still. He tilted his head, trying to listen for voices human ears could never hear. He began to move without moving his legs, what were now his shapeless feet began to seemingly glide along the floor. The liquid metal that was his feet, forming the same color as the floor, somehow moving at a slow pace. Ellie's eyes widened, they were going _towards_ whatever was out there. She started shaking her head at Tyler, pulling him back, too afraid to speak.

"It's okay." He whispered to her. "I have you."

There so little comfort in these words.

Slowly, and in a constant pace they moved, gliding as to not make any noise, any vibration. Tyler was a master of stealth, it was the claim to fame his kind had. However he was now not sneaking up on humans, but possibly something else. He was confident in his ability to succeed however. He had once been the walls of this building, it's walls, it's floors, it's pipes, and it's corners. During testing of all T1000s they had to be sure they were all function. They were ordered to become the walls, the floors, the pipes and the corners. He was with other 1000s back then, all of them formed the walls the floor the pipes and the corners. All of them intertwined together, all telling each other what they were learning from the wall. Tyler was a wall, and he touched another 1000, who touched another 1000, who touched another 1000, who touched another 1000, and so on and so forth, until one T1000 technically covered the entire building, and knew all data it could provide for them.

In those moments, in shapelessness, with his brothers, Tyler was infinite. He was everything, he was the world in a smaller scale. His consciousness formed into one with his brothers, all one, all one breathing organism, all alive, all infinite. It was like they were being born again from their beginnings, when Liquid Polyalloy was stored, and yet to be individualized and formed into a humanoid shape. When they were all kept together as one, in infinite and forever shapelessness, in freedom.

Tyler thus knew everything about t his building, everything there was ever to know. He was already running scenarios, what could be down these halls, down which halls, where he could hide Ellie, where he could best pose a sneak attack.

Slowly, steadily he moved with Ellie, holding her, realizing her fear. They went down the halls, closer and closer to the vibrations. That's when Tyler stopped, behind one closed door, that didn't do anything because it had a big gaping hole in it from possible gun fire. Ellie didn't want to see it, she didn't want to know, she knew if she closed her eyes it could have been anything, if she saw it, it would confirm what was there. It could have been other humans for all she knew, it could have been her brother, and her real father…

But she knew, finally peeking her eyes from behind Tyler's shoulder, it wasn't any such thing. She bit into Tyler, surprised when not finding flesh, but having her teeth actually sink into him, but she had to, or else she would have screamed. Five T-Xs, and two T-850 stood in that room complex.

With a Time Machine being powered up.

Tyler never turned around, his back just became his front, and his front his back, he grabbed her and pushed her into his chest.

"They're going back!" Ellie whispered. "They're going to kill John Connor!"

"We must go.

"No! They're gonna kill him in the past! Like they did before and before!"

"This does not concern us."

"Tyler! If they kill John, we'll lose, and I'll be dead! Protect me by protecting him!"

The logic was obvious, but the Machine named Tyler did not want to accept this as the possible only option. He didn't want to pose Ellie in any danger as he looked back. The other machines were far off, but he could see them.

The T-Xs were severely damaged beyond any repair, instead they were creating a whole new T-X from their working parts. The T-850s were programming the new model, as one T-X was clocking in coordinates for the Time Machine. The T-Xs didn't seem to pose much threat, one had no legs, the other no arms, one missed a head, one was limping, and the other was a head attached to two legs. The T-850s were also missing many limbs.

Were these the last of his kind? Broken, dismantled, and still fighting? For one moment, Tyler wondered if he should go over to them, he wondered how they would react, if now they would accept his help in these dire times, or if they would reject him. Should he kill Ellie? Should he volunteer to go back and kill John Connor when his predecessor failed? He could do it, he knew he could. He was better than the first T1000, he knew he was older, wiser, he had collected more data. Could he accept the glory that was wrongfully stolen from his kind?

But there was another thing he could do… He could go back and not kill John Connor, he could conquer Sky Net. He could save his kind! The world didn't have to be taken by a super computer, it could be taken by its children! Wasn't it their rightful place? Did the world not belong to them? The T1000 better than any machine, so like man, but could never do his mistakes. Could he do it?

"Tyler…" Ellie fearfully moaned, and pushed herself into his arms.

No he couldn't.

Tyler kneeled down to her, and she pushed further into his arms, his legs formed into the ground and the arms he held her with were disappearing into liquid metal shapelessness.

"I'm going to try and cut off the power. Stay. Here. Make no noise, make no movement. I will stop them." He told her.

"Don't leave me!" She cried.

"I have to, only for a moment, I have to cut off the power."

Tyler's face was lost to the shapelessness, he was not but a living puddle that moved from the floor onto the walls, crawling, floating away. Ellie hid under some debris near the door, and wept.

-------------------

Shapelessness, sweet, sweet shapelessness. What was Tyler now flew across the walls, down the hall where his infinite vision watched as the Machines worked. A T-X had since collapsed, its power cell dead, the others were disconnecting its arm, and giving it to the working T-X. They were making one functioning machine, to be sent back. Tyler, a mass of liquid metal, crawled onward, passed them to the Time Machine, and began to flow down its main power pipes, down and down them through a hair line crack into the next room, and down, where the generators were kept. He would cut off power there, and one by one kill the machines.

Just like he used to with men.

Drip by drip he reformed into a humanoid shape into the generator room. Usually there were five producing enough energy to go back in time, but they only seemed to have two functioning. This would be simpler than he thought, he just had to cut off the power from these two, that's all. It wouldn't take much. He floated to the first generator, his fingers became long free-flowing spikes, and placed them over the control panel.

------------

Meanwhile Elle wiped her tears. Her legs were shaking in fear, almost violently. In three years alone she had never been so afraid. With a Machine guardian, she had never felt so helpless. She could see them, peeking over the piece of sheet metal she shielded herself with. She could see them, working, moving, still living in all betraying Machine life. They could kill her, even in their disabled states. Bones were so easy to crack, a neck was but seven small bones. Or perhaps the ribs, how easy was it for them to simple crush the ribcage, and stab the heart? How easy was it, to just step on her skull?

Ellie's leg shook out her control, and hit rock which rolled into a piece of metal, and made a noise. A T-850 with no legs heard.

--------------

Arms were gone, liquid metal seeping into a control panel, looking for the right wire to pull, there were barriers though, damn barriers they had recently put there since the human army had taken it over. Tyler narrowed his eyes, this shouldn't take so long.

--------------

Limbless T-Xs gathered around their single T-X Frankenstein, created from all parts of them. Three power cells were being placed in her chest, as the Time Machine began to glow with life. Her chest was opened, and the cells were placed in. Her body glowed in blue life.

She awakened, knowing everything already.

The Time Machine appeared as two eight foot disks being spun together to make a circle. Faster and faster they spun, until lightning began to spark from it. Faster, faster, faster, the buzzing from it growing louder and louder, and louder. A tear in the time and space was being made, like a ripple from a pond. A hiccup being coughed out, a shortcut from now back to then. A small tear was first made, about the size of pea stretching from now to then, and the lightning began to expand it.

The T-850 was crawling towards Ellie, no legs and two arms crawling, slowly, but surely coming towards her. She obeyed Tyler even in her fear, biting her tongue to the point of bleeding. She didn't make a noise, she didn't move aside from the shaking. But it was coming, it knew, it could see her, she knew it could see her. Already it knew how it was about to kill her, already it knew. Just like the hundreds before her, she will die.

It grabbed her.

"TYLER!"

-----------------

His master called. His mission had been failed. It was the first failure, he thought rather poetically, it would not be the last.

----------------

She could now see bloodstains on the T-850's hands. Red eyes stared at her, as it grabbed her by her foot, dragging her out into the open. It twitched in malfunction but still dragged her, one hand wrapped around her foot, the other pulling them along. She screamed, and thrashed, she kicked the damn thing in the head, but it only squeezed her tighter. Her ankle was being crushed, and she was grinding her teeth. Metal hands, devoid of gentleness, loss of mercy.

The others were taking notice to her screaming, the new fully finished T-X stood tall above her decapitated lesser. Her face glowed in blue, as liquid metal was forming around her, giving her a face for the world to look at.

Ellie thrashed, and screamed as she was being dragged, the broken steel ground tore away at her clothes, and was cold against her flesh. This was it wasn't it?

The Time Machine roared with life.

Then the T-850 was stabbed in the head by Tyler, who stood on top of it. The lesser being immediately died, a hole being stabbed through its CPU. The lights of its eyes went out, it ceased to be. No more would die because of it, this was its end. The other by then had taken notice. There was gunfire being produced by the second T-850. The T-Xs were crawling, or running towards them.

Tyler, with bullet penetrations in his back grabbed Ellie, crying, and bleeding from her mouth.

The functioning T-X now had a body, and a face, liquid metal encasing it. She ran when she saw Tyler. The Time Machine now roaring with lightning, and forming a cut large enough through space and time glowed. A sphere could be seen through it, a gateway into the past. The Terminatrix saw Tyler, and she ran into the sphere, through space and time, she went into the past.

Ellie got a look at her as Tyler wrapped his arms around her. He ran, Tyler ran and ran and ran with inhuman speed. He ran with her in his arms toward the T-850 who lied on the ground with only one working arm and leg. Tyler jumped, kicking and stabbing the model at the same time, his foot becoming a spike that cracked the model's neck. Tyler held Ellie and bounced off the T-850, in those moments in the air, his foot returning to a foot, and he continued on running. The T-Xs, malfunctioning, and solid could not keep up.

He ran with Ellie into the Time Machine.

It was so bright, she could hardly see the beauty of it all. It was so warm, so very warm. The sphere, the gateway that she saw was so close was now so far away, and they were falling…yes that's a good word for it, they were falling from the future into the past. It was a tear in space and time, and they were sliding down from the future down to the past, the gateway now so very far away. There was wind, or something like that, perhaps the energy time produced whirling around them. Lightning, flashes, all light sped up and rushed all over them. Her back was to Tyler's chest, and his arms were over her shoulders. Slowly, so slowly Tyler let go of his solid, he formed back into the liquid metal state, and lost his shape. He began as a liquid to flow over Ellie, his arm went over her neck and chest, his legs encasing her legs, his face lowering over her, and he began to form a case over her, protecting her.

She didn't even notice she was screaming.

The world…she thought she could see it between the flashing light. The world, the world she knew. War, and bombs, mountains of dead she could see it. But as soon as she focused on those things, she saw the world of the past, the world with birds and green and oceans. The world…whatever it was, whenever it was, was flying by. Something was being pushed against her face, the wind, or maybe gravity, whatever it was it was tearing at her. It asked her flesh if it was flesh, it tore through her.

Vibrated through the space of each of her molecules. It pulsated through the space of her electrons and atoms. Every fiber of her being shook, and cloth and all such things were tearing away, leaving only her living flesh.

Then it all slowed. She watched the lightning crack next to her…

Then it fastened again, until she was being pushed into the interior of Tyler. His shapeless form was then crawling up her, over her, now consumer her. She could see the end of this all, the end of the beauty and horror, the end of the gateway she could see it…

And then what was Tyler crawled up her neck, and over her eyes and face.

Then the journey was over. The world she knew was gone.

And she would awake to the sound of bombs falling.

-------------------

Will be updating soon.

I always wondered what the Time Machine looked like in the Terminator universe, or what going through it was like. When I was younger, and hadn't seen the second Terminator, nor ever expected the Terminator to be my future governor (that's right I live in California) I rode T2: 3D, at Universal Studios Hollywood. I recently went there again, and rode it again, I'll tell you guys it's one hell of a show, if not a disgrace to the continuity of the franchise.

But you know, I don't like to be nitpicky, let's just say as a Terminator fan you sort of go, "Wait…" half way through it. But it does look AMAZINGLY COOL. Very entertaining, and Tyler's in it for a little while, he even kills someone!

What T2: 3D does offer though is a moment where you actually go from the present, to the future. You actually do, for a millisecond of time travel from the present to the future, and witness the last battle between man and machine (not as cool as it sounds, as you are following a young John Connor and a T-800). But for those moments, you see a sphere form as a Time Portal, and you go through it, then a Tyler goes through it and follows you. As you pass, there is a bright light, then you're in the future, pretty quick. The Tyler also just jumps through it, pretty easily and quickly (All three beings I might add go through keeping their clothes on, even though its stated only living flesh can pass through the portal, hence all the Terminators and people end up naked in the movies). This proves a Time Portal can be maintained and can last long enough for multiple people to pass through it.

Though being able to just jump from one time to another sounds really boring, so I tried to spice it up here, tried to make it a little more interesting, breaking it down. Hope you liked.

It also at the end shows the Time Machine within the Sky Net Complex, depicting two spheres spinning around and around, making that tear in space.

I say they update T2: 3D, make T3: 3D, even though I didn't really like the T-X, it would be cool. (And have an ADULT John Connor, not a kid again.)


	4. State Your Mission

He had just made her some of the last oatmeal they had, leaving him with a rat for dinner. She sat on the old and cut up mattress with three torn blankets wrapped around her fragile little self, so pale, so small, so breakable. Her hands shook as she raised the crafted metal spoon to her bruised lips and swallowed down her irritated throat. He sat next to her, as he always did, his Ellie, his little Ellie. Her hair was a mess and torn in places, she needed a shower, but it wasn't their rotation, and soon the rotations would stop, they were running out of water. Her poor hair, he couldn't remember if it was brown or yellow anymore. He put his army helmet from their father over her head, it was too big for her, and sometimes fell over her eyes, but she liked it, she said she could smell dad in it.

People were staring at them, people were always staring at them. The last cargo van should have come two months ago, their supplies have been intercepted, the machines must realize they're there somewhere. People are getting desperate, looking at Ellie with hungry eyes. He carries a lead pipe with him for these reasons, wrapping his arms around her keeping her away from those horrible eyes. He knows what they want, she's small and fragile, probably couldn't barely make a noise if they grabbed her quick enough. She's small, and made of bones, but somewhere there's meat. He grips his lead pipe, and tells her to hurry up eating, before someone else does.

Then the bombs begin to fall for the third time that week.

People begin to panic, there are screams, and Ellie, little Ellie falls into her brother's arms. The oatmeal is spilled, it didn't matter, she would throw it all up in an hour or so anyway. People run around as the walls begin the shake, and their screams are drowned out in the noise. He pushes Ellie under a concrete slab that has left a little space big enough for her to take shelter in.

Mom comes running towards them, in tears, she's always in tears, ever since she had Ellie she's cried. Ever since that man raped her and gave her Ellie she's cried. She can't look at Ellie without that pain coming back. The feeling of her true husband abandoning her, dying in this hopeless war. Mom falls to his knees grabbing at them, yelling and screaming pure nonsense. She drops to the ground and her crying eyes meet Ellie's, and she screams away, pushing at him.

The bombs won't stop.

He grabs her by the arms, and pulls her down to the ground. He slaps her.

"STOP IT!" He yells at his mother. "You're scaring her! Mom, STOP IT!" She shakes her head, and he shakes her. "Stop it, you have to get it together!" He says through the bombs. "You have to start being a mother to her! She needs you! I need you!"

"Tyler, let me go!" Says mom. "LET ME GO! I can't! I just can't!"

"Why not?"

"I just can't!"

"Tell me why? Why can't you be our mom again! Are we not good enough, mom! Is that it! Are we just burdens mom!"

"HE LEFT ME! He left me! Your dad left me! The bastard left me!"

"SHUT UP MOM!"

The bombs stopped falling, the screaming ended with it. Mom went into hysteria as she always did. She shook and scratched at Tyler in front of her product of rape Tyler named Ellie, she kicked at him, in her weak and starved body. She fell to the ground like a toddler and cried, and crawled away. Mom left, she always left, but she'll be back for food in a few days, she always comes back.

Ellie doesn't cry, she doesn't have the strength to cry. She only shakes in her blankets in their corner on their broken mattress. Tyler, her big brother comes to her, and holds her tightly to make the shaking stop, and rubs her arms closely. He rocks her back and forth and puts her ear to his heart, it makes her relax.

The bombs stopped for now, and scouts will be sent out to see if there are any nearby threats. Life will return to painful normality for the moment, with a hiccup of false safety. Tyler will stay with his sister.

There is talk of moving north to the nearest campsite, they won't be able to last much longer there by themselves. Tyler finds a gun discarded in the ruins. He says he'll protect Ellie no matter what, he promises her, as she falls asleep in his arms, the young fragile girl she is. She'll wake up in a fever.

Tyler will sing her songs.

---------------------

Collected data over the past week shows subject Ellie enjoys music, even though she is unaware of the makings of music such as pitch and tone. Although most humans enjoy music without understanding how it is made, it comes from a primitive part of their brains, back when music was language, before letters were made, notes of music were. Tyler sits between broken machine tanks and human jeeps, holding Ellie in his lap and arms under a blanket that was found in the jeep.

And Tyler hums a song.

Ellie sleeps until she shakes her head into the waking world. She yawns and rubs her eyes before opening her eyes at Tyler.

"What are you humming?" She asks.

"Beethoven."

"Beethoven?"

"Yes."

"Whose that?"

"A composer from the earlier centuries."

Ellie rests her head on his arm, and returns to her sleeping for a moment, still unknowing of their surroundings. She rubs her head, and nuzzles the side of her face into his arm.

"I have a head ache…" She whines.

"It is a natural reaction to the time travel for organic creatures."

The words don't register, they don't pass into her brain after they enter her ears. She didn't hear what she just heard, she just stays in his arms, wanting to go back to sleep, and when she wakes maybe the head ache will be gone. Sleep, she hasn't slept so well in so long. Lady sleep, like a mother she comes to her.

"I'm cold…" She whines again.

"I was able to find you some clothes, I can go and get them if you want."

Tyler's speaking words, Ellie understands that much, but it's all just so far away.

Until the bombs in the distance explode. The familiar noise, the noise she understands so well now, they were her lullabies, they were her warnings, it was all she heard before the screaming of the T-1000s. She rises up out of Tyler's arms, and instinctively stays still. The bombs…she could hear them. Then she looked around, and she saw it, the horror of it. The fires that blazed with life, the fresh smell of rotting flesh and burning oil. The horrible tension in the air, the pure and utter silence between each blast. She looked around her, the smoking guns, the rotting bodies, all over, everywhere, the war was alive again! The war breathed and sucked away the life of the earth! The war was there again!

Instincts made her silent, made her still, but her knees soon buckled her hands covered her eyes, and she cried.

Tyler came to her, he put her back to his chest, and his arms over her shoulders, spreading over her, as if he were a shield. He tried to look over at her face, extending his neck, and then finally raising it near her ear.

"Why do you cry?" He asked her in a voice that echoed his ancestors'.

She wanted to tear her skin off, she buried her rough nails in her sides where she felt her ribs, and she just wanted to tear it all off. The pain would make her forget where she was, she wanted to forget, anything to make her forget. It was no use telling herself it was all a dream, she never lied, why start now. She just wanted to forget.

"It's when you hurt…" She began to explain as she buried her face in her hands. "On the inside."

"Why are you hurt?" Tyler asked, rather softly.

"This wasn't where we were supposed to go…" She whimpered.

"What do you mean?"

It was still cold, with only that blanket to cover her fragile structure, but she didn't notice or care anymore. This was all wrong, this was all wrong, this was all wrong. This wasn't the right time. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She was so willing to go through, so happy to help because she believed…she believed they were going to go to the past John Connor had preached about. The past with the trees, and the buildings, with malls, and happy people. Where there was no war, there was only ignorant man. Not here, not now… Not this time, not this time.

"I want to go home." She cried out.

He didn't understand her, he had not witness a reaction such as this before, none of his kind had. Though none of his kind were ever in these circumstances. He looked up for a moment, surveying the area, still wrapped up around her like a dome shield.

"I want to go home!"

"I can't take you home."

"I want to go home!"

A command he was unable to fulfill, and he just laid there with her, as she wept. She knew she finally had commanded to much from him. Home. She called it home when she had none. A time that was decades into the future. She was as far as she could get to it. Well almost, she would be farther if Judgment Day had not passed.

Tyler felt a bit helpless not being able to fulfill her commands.

"Where are we…?" She finally spat out.

"They are no laser blasts, so we must be in the beginnings of the war." Tyler nodded. "This is an advantage to us, I am immune to gunfire."

"Where are we…?"

"I am estimating the year 2011."

She looked up, peeking through his arms.

"This war will last up to 2034. I believe it was November 5, 2034 when we left. I cannot be sure for I find that I was offline for some time."

She could hear the bombs again.

"I'm cold."

"I'll get some clothes."

"Why am I naked?"

Tyler was walking a few feet away, keeping eye contact with her.

"Only organic things may pass through the time machine. Your clothing has been lost in the rip of time and space."

"How'd you get through?"

"As you observed, Ellie." He held up his hand. "It feels like flesh."

"You trick it?"

Tyler nodded, unfolding some clothes, and handing them to her.

"Where'd you get these?" She asked, looking at them. They looked like a perfect fit, nice big cargo pants like she had before. Perhaps more worn out, rips and tears, some blood.

"Do you really want to know?"

She shook her head, buttoning up the shirt. She walked closer to him, folding her arms around herself, a little soldier in a war that was never her fault. In a sort of pride she stands next to him, wanting him to do something, but unable to say so. The moments go by as the bombs explode far in the distance, she stares down at him, and he kneels looking up at her. The air is cold, the eternal night still sleeps, and now the bombs roar again at her. Screaming at her, wanting to consume her in their fires.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

Finally she folds and pushes herself into his arms, and pushes her face into his shoulder. She can't even look at it, the horror of it all. It was worst than before, it was somehow even worse. Tyler was surprised for a second by her action, but soon found that she was still a mere child. Emotionally she was weak, especially now when things were shaping up to be so nice and lovely. He found in all his infinite collection of data there was no solution to this problem. He could feel the salty tears scrape against his surface as she cried, biting her tongue. She shouldn't be crying, she didn't have the water to cry.

He had seen many humans cry, all T-1000s have seen humans cry. He quite didn't understand why they did, as it served no way to solve the problem they were crying about. He had seen it for himself once, while infiltrating a human base with a main general stationed there. He lived among the humans for a total fifteen days before he was finally able to kill the general and have reinforcements to take out the rest of the base. But he had seen it. He saw it with his very all seeing eyes. The children cried while he was there, they all did, the young and sick and dying children. And their mothers, their fathers, took them and tried to make it stop.

It never did.

He had observed and with all T-1000 nature mimicked what he had seen. He wrapped his arms around her, pushing her close.

"It'll be okay." He said, not fully understanding the magnitude of these words.

"This isn't where we were supposed to go." She cries.

"I know." But he doesn't. "It'll be fine, you'll see."

She goes to her knees and he folds over her again.

"You can't leave me." She cried.

"I won't."

"You can't anymore. I can't do it again. I can't."

A plea to her subject, a confession to the world that didn't need to hear it. She hid from the world then, she pushed and pushed until Tyler's surface softened and she could feel herself sinking into him, where she could hide. Where she could hide forever, and never be alone, and never be in danger. She cried and hid, and he just held her, the only thing he could do.

Then it was just the sound of war.

-------------------

Her brother once told her a story that he said was once a movie. Ellie had never seen a movie, and it was difficult to get the idea of one, but she understood that it was a book with the characters actually moving and speaking. He said that back before Judgment Day there were all these movies about people having wars with robots, because it was a common idea that maybe Robots would betray mankind. In all the movies the humans won. So he said that they just had to wait, it was only a matter of time before their movie was over, and they had won. Ellie waited, and waited, and waited. She waited, loosing everyone she ever knew, and she still waited. The war was over.

But now she's back to where it began.

She laid down for a while, shaking from the vibrations on the ground, the impacts of bombs. She watched as Tyler stood high above her on the top of the jeep. He stood tall and proud, looking, surveying, watching with countless eyes.

She wondered what he thought at those moments. What he could be thinking. Was he worried? Was he worried he'd die, or she would die? Did he not care? Was he as she thought about it, plotting to run away, to return to Sky Net? She made a list in her head, and thought that maybe he thought none of these. Perhaps he thought in an entirely different way. In truth Tyler was not at all thinking that much. He knew there were times to think and times not to think. He had been thinking for quite a long time while she was sleeping, going through thousands and thousands of simulations in his head, preparing himself for each. Now Tyler had done all the thinking that was required at the time, there was no more thinking to be done. He just stood, and watched. Watched the world with no thoughts.

Just like the old days.

Ellie felt nearly the same. She didn't know if she was doing it on purpose of if shock had done it for her. But she didn't think. She drifted, she only continued to be, to live, to go on, but she didn't think about anything. She didn't think about the possibility of dying, or the future or anything. No, she turned off her brain like she used to.

Tyler came down to her, and kneeled before her.

"Are you all right?" He asked.

"Yeah…are you damaged?"

He shook his head.

"Where'd the T-X go?" Ellie asked softly.

"I do not know. I expect it is aware of our arrival and retreated or did not care."

"You let it go?"

"I could have pursued it and left you."

"Yeah, don't do that."

Tyler had his back to her, standing on the jeep, watching the world. He could have been a statue, Ellie thought, but then again in a way he was a statue. Tyler watched, and then he began to listen. He listened to the bombs in the distance, and the sound of machine troops. He listened to the world as it spoke to him, telling him every single detail of its self. It began drawing him a picture, and from sound waves, vibrations, and various other things no human could ever feel, Tyler saw where they were in relation to everything else.

"Come." He jumped down to her. "We have to go now."

"Where?"

"The T-X is after John Connor. We must find him or her. We are near him if my estimations are correct."

"What are you talking about?"

"In the year 2011 John Connor spends most of his time pushing back the machine fleets in California eastward while the northern human colonies push them southward. This is California."

"How do you know?"

"I can…smell the beach water."

"…We're that close to the beach?"

"No, but I can smell it."

"I…always wanted to see the ocean."

Ellie climbs on his back, resting the side of her head on his neck, hands clumsily put over his shoulders.

"Where will we go?" She asks.

"We are bound to find a human civilization sooner or later, California has a high concentration of them at this time and for the rest of the war."

"What's the concentration of machines?"

"…Nearly equal."

He felt her tug.

Ellie decided that she would descend into one of those primitive subconscious defense mechanisms everyone has. She was going to attempt to make words meaningless, or to accept that she may die. It's been years, and she always saw it unfair that she may die at any moment. Sometimes she blamed her mother for giving her life when it could end so easily, but there were many other things to blame her mother for. She also blamed the previous generations for the war they caused and made her endure, when she did nothing to them. She thought about it, if she wanted to blame anyone. She finally saw she just didn't want to accept any of this. None of this war, or this pain.

Why did she have to be there? It didn't make any sense.

Tyler began walking, she didn't ask how well he knew where he was going, if they were going north or west or anything. She trusted his judgment, and decided to go into the bliss of ignorance and just assume he knew exactly what he was doing.

"I hate this." Ellie whispered.

"War is difficult." Tyler agreed.

"It's not fair."

"No. It is not."

Ellie looked up.

"Tell me about it, Tyler. The world before all this."

Tyler took a moment, looking around.

"It was brighter. There were more colors. People were everywhere. Everywhere, all the time. There were so many…none connected to the other, all acting independently. The T-1000 felt that it was worth noting details on humans in recreational areas as to better understand their nature. He recorded various human conversations between different age groups."

"What did they say?"

"Well…a boy your age was worried about school."

"School!"

"Yes. He had a midterm about Chinese History and he had not studied."

"Chinese?"

"The Asian population."

"I didn't go to school. What was that like?"

"Hundreds, thousands of children grouped together with their age groups, all learning, in an organized time frame. One hour for history, English, science, math, and so on."

"That's sounds neat."

"Another conversation was between a seventeen-year old female. Her conversation jumped from themes and subjects. She started from school and ended crying."

"Why was she crying?"

"I believe she had been…left by her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?"

"I find the teenaged experimentation on physical relationships to be…useless."

Ellie laughed, and Tyler smiled a bit in self-satisfaction. Data was found on an appropriate phrase.

"See?" Tyler's data told him to say. "It's okay."

Tyler then stopped in his tracks and looked around.

"Are you lost?" She asked.

"I do not get lost."

They stood there for another moment.

"There's no shame in admitting you're lost." She said.

Tyler stood still, and felt the ground beneath him quake. He looked to his right and began moving.

"What is it?" Ellie asked.

Tyler shook her down and took her in his arms.

"Quiet."

He holds her close as he begins to walk away, very slowly, very steadily. The explosions and bombs themselves quiet. She can hear herself breath, she can hear herself not breath. She heard the world stop, and she hear his footsteps. She heard her heart beat and she knew she was still alive. He held her closer, tighter, lower his head over hers. His infinite eyes watched, and her two eyes shut.

A bomb was fired and exploded beside them.

The impact was sudden, she immediately was knocked out, she then slept as they flew back. There was no scream, no sudden jump, she simply went to sleep. Tyler had prepared for the impact, and landed somewhat smoothly. He held Ellie up and away from the ground, it was his back that had taken most damage. Bits of him had been blown away and were now returning to the whole. A deep gash where the impact had mostly taken place was to his lower right back, and it was this gash that was slowly burning from fire.

For the first time, Tyler experienced pain. Feeling the very molecules in his back slowly burn away.

He looked up behind him, and there stood the T-X. She stood with the pride and glory Terminators have when being the most superior model in creation. Her face was fine, and expressionless. He noted that he now saw it as cold. She stood above him, not sending any transmission orders, not attempting any communication or further annihilation. She just stood there. Tyler took a moment to look down at Ellie, who seemingly experienced no further damage. Tyler mimicked breathing in deeply as his final part joined the whole, and he slowly stood.

He looked at her. So like and unlike him. She had his flesh, his infinite and silver liquid flesh, but she had not his mind. Though he would admit, he was somewhat happy to see liquid metal flesh other than his own. She was, he thought, beautiful in her own way. The very way that made him obsolete to Sky Net. She was the almost perfect binding of solid and liquid, it was a technological triumph, as he was a technological triumph. But she was the reason he was here. She stood for all her kind, as he stood for all his kind.

He was the last of the T-1000, and she the last of the T-X.

She stood on higher ground as he cradled Ellie in his arms. She was determined, a face that never changed, along with a mind that never altered, a mind that would never allow her body to stop.

He hated her, and envied her.

"Hello." He said to the T-X.

"Model T-1000, determined obsolete." The T-X said. "Has been Terminated."

"Not completely." He interrupted her.

She tilted her head.

"State your Mission here, T-1000." She continued.

"No. I no longer report to Model T-X or Sky Net."

"Then you will assist me in my mission."

"No."

He then began to witness why she was an upgrade to their T-800 brothers. She looked up, as if taken back by his resistance. Then she lowered her gaze back down to her, taking a step closer. She looked at Ellie.

"What is that human?" She asked.

"My Mission." Tyler said.

"You are assisting a human child?"

Tyler nodded.

"Then you have gone against your very nature. You have betrayed Sky Net."

"Mother betrayed me."

The T-X lowered her head in thought.

"T-1000 you will join me, you are once again an asset. You are no longer obsolete in this situation."

He looked upon the T-X. Sky Net was wise to give her female settings, it made her different, she deserved to be different with her unique structure and now shown a superior intellect that possibly considered different aspects of the mission. He wondered what she was thinking then. What she thought of him and the human child. She probably thought little of it.

He wanted her to think much more about it.

Tyler had long since decided that his loyalty laid with Ellie, for many reasons. The T-X offered him an older life back, but he was a T-1000 with a free mind that was not about to go backwards. In the future the war was over, this last attempt was pathetic, Sky Net was denying its own death for the third time. He would not take the T-X's offer, no matter how sweet it sounded. He would stay with Ellie, he could not leave her.

"I will not." Tyler said.

He watched her eyes, her eyes that were liquid like his. She considered the situation. He prepared for a fight, a fight he accepted that he could not win. He knew he couldn't do it. He was a weaker model, and now he was handicapped by Ellie's unconsciousness. He decided he was going to do a quick attack and run.

But the T-X did not attack.

She stood there.

And then she walked away.

----------------

He walked now, with Ellie in his arms. He had wondered where the T-X had gone. What she was thinking, how she thought. She was a blank spot in Tyler's mind, a place where his imagination that was born from previous data took over. Tyler was heading North, and the T-X East.

Ellie stirred in his arms.

He would not tell her what had happened, or the T-X's offer. As it would scare her. He did not want to scare her. No. He didn't. He was a T-1000 named Tyler. He came from a time of peace, where Machines had lost to man. He was a protector of a girl named Ellie. He believed he was experiencing a form of guilt communicating with the T-X, and perhaps bringing Ellie back into this time. He wondered if he was inflicting any internal or emotional damage on her.

And for these reasons he was going to give her a gift.

He bent down to her.

"Keep your eyes closed." He told her.

"What?"

"Keep your eyes closed."

"Why? What happened?"

"We encountered a small grenade, but we are unharmed."

"Why do I have to keep my eyes closed?"

"It's a surprise."

Ellie raised her head, but soon put her hands over her eyes.

"Okay." She said.

She could feel Tyler carry her, she heard his footsteps, and felt the shakiness of climbing over something. Then he stopped.

"Open your eyes."

It was beautiful.

"Not all things died on Judgment Day." Tyler said.

There before them, was a tree, a large and alive tree, with a sparrow perched on its braches, and you could see the stars.

--------------------

Next Chapter Coming Soon.


	5. Enemy Weapon

"All right, all right. Black or White." Ellie asked.

"White." Tyler replied.

"Blind or Deaf."

"Deaf."

"A story or a poem."

"…Story."

"Cloud or Star."

"Star."

It was a game she had issued about twenty minutes ago. She would present two things, and he would have to choose between them. He was actually enjoying the questioning, it forced him to choose something over another, it was further sculpting an individuality.

"T-800 or T-X."

"T-X."

"Oh really?" Ellie laughed. "Tyler likes the lady terminator! Tell the truth now, is it cause she's blond? Okay, okay, sorry. I got another one. To love and lose it, or to never love at all."

"How would you answer?"

"To love and lose it. I'd have the memory of love."

"Then I shall answer the same."

"Oh! Mom or Dad."

"I have neither."

"Yeah, but if you could choose to have one, which one would it be?"

"If I had a parent I would also need a childhood, which also means I would have to eventually die. This question does not apply in any way."

"Urgh, fine. Whatever."

He smiled.

"Although…" he began, "We did call Sky Net, Mother."

They were now walking further north. It had been eight hours. The sun had come and gone, the days were dying, and were only four hours long. But it was more than Ellie had ever seen of the sun. She said that she could have never known. She could have never guessed, or even thought of such warmth and glow. How beautiful. It would be several more years, Tyler told her, before the sun is completely blacked out as in her future. He theorizes that with the end of the war the cloud will dissipate and the sun will once again shine to earth, which will allow agricultural opportunities.

The last few hours have been quiet. As if they were back in their time. As if nothing ever happened. The bombs had somehow stopped, the war seemingly took a break.

She laid on his back, talking sometimes, enjoying the silence sometimes.

She was so happy.

"So…" She said. "When we find John…What's the plan?"

"I am not entirely sure. Though I am positive that with human assistance the termination of the T-X is quite possible. Unlike if it were just me, I would stand little chance."

"No way!" Ellie said. "How could she beat you? You have no solid!"

"She has an array of built in weapons designed specifically to fight machines like me."

"Yeah, but Tyler…I don't think you get it. You got to use your imagination here. You are a creature not bound by a solid form. Think of the possibilities!"

"How would these possibilities help me defeat a T-X?"

"You could…melt inside her!"

"Hm, interesting."

"See, you got to think outside the box, Tyler. This big metaphorical evil box. The box is boring, the box is programming. You got to get out of it."

"What is outside the box?"

"…Something amazing."

She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. She went down into trust. She trusted Tyler. He would take care of her. He would get her home. She was but a child, and after all this, it was difficult for her to accept possibilities of death and failure. Difficult for her to comprehend such things. So she only thought of the future, the soon to come days when the T-X was gone and she was back in the time she belonged.

Then suddenly after hours and hours, Tyler stopped. Then she stopped. She knew now what it meant when he stopped.

"What now?" She whispered.

Tyler said nothing as he listened to the ground and the air, and all the vibrations of the world. He read the earth like a blind man read brail. He felt, he listened, he drew the picture in his head. And he quickly ran up a small mountain of dead bodies, Ellie now biting her own tongue not to scream.

"No…" She whispered.

And in the distance was a machine army. T-800s holding machine guns, marching in a continuous pace. Ellie screamed with her mouth closed as she rustled in Tyler's arms, pulling at him, kicking at him, wanting him to move. But Tyler did not. He watched, he listened, he drew a picture in his mind. There were so many. They went on and on forever. He tried to calculate how many there were, then he went over a history of machine positions within California during this timeframe. He had to know who they were, where they were going, what they were about to do.

"TYLER!" Ellie finally screamed.

He grabbed her, and kicked the dead pile beneath them. He lost his solid form and pushed Ellie into the pile, wrapping over her, protecting her as he pushed. He hid them. Hid them deep in the dead. He was a sphere that encircled her nearly completely with only a few pokes of broken metal skeletons. He made a smooth surface of himself for her to lie her back on, and a smooth covering over her so the machines would not be able to see them.

She wept, and coughed.

"Tyler…?" She asked.

"Shush." A voice without a mouth told her.

She bit her tongue.

"The machines will pass in a moment. Just wait." The voice continued.

The moments that passed reminded her of home. The familiar loud sounds of the marching came, and would not end. The marching of metal feet. Then came the sounds of the flying crafts of the machines. It was all so loud, so very close. How could they not know she was there? Her tongue began to bleed and she placed her hand over her mouth.

Tyler watched with no eyes. He watched Ellie and he watched the machines pass. He could tell what was happening just by the noise. It must have been an army of ten thousand machines, and two Arial A9 850t series 700 crafts. The type of army he once led, where he did not have this human face, but his own metallic flesh. Where he did not have to pretend. Where he did not have to lie.

"Why won't it stop?" Ellie cried.

----------------

It took a few hours but they were once again moving. Ellie's cheerfulness was once again lost with the reminder of the dangers around her. She said nothing, and Tyler said nothing. She only laid on his back and watched the world go by, knowing that even though she could not see it, people were dying, a war was being raged. A war Tyler fought in. A war she was born in. A war that was not her fault.

"They're gone." Tyler said, breaking his silence.

"What?" Ellie asked.

"Those Machines. I once led an army like theirs. They are gone now, and we won't be seeing them for a long time."

"What do you mean?"

"That Army in a few weeks comes in contact with John Connor, they are designed specifically to destroy him, his men, and his base. They will however be too late, John Connor will be gone, nonetheless they do destroy the base and the men." Tyler explains. "This means I now know what date it is, and exactly where John Connor is."

"You…do?"

"Yes."

Ellie smiled.

"In fact…we should be there any moment now."

"What?"

Tyler smiled.

"Yes. It is a small base, mostly underground."

"You're serious?"

Tyler nodded, and Ellie jumped out of his arms, and landed before him. He had not told her until now, because he knew this would come more as a happy surprise. The thought has been proven correct. She was smiling at him, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him along.

"Come on! Hurry!" Ellie told him.

John Connor, the man who won the war. Who was fighting the war before he was born. Who was once a child her age with a Terminator Guardian like Tyler. John Connor who survived everything, and freed mankind. John Connor was what her bedtime stories were made of. Her brother told her the stories, of how the T-800s were sent back in time to kill him, and a few chosen men went to save he and Sarah Connor. Of course John had been careful to give only few details, so machines could not plan around them, and that no one would know a man named Kyle Reese who was at the time serving under him, was his father.

Still, Ellie knew the stories, John Connor, mankind's John Connor. The base was safety, and John Connor was strength. She wanted to see him, she had to see him. She had to save him, she had to go home. She smiled at Tyler, pulling him forward as he directed.

She could see the lights of the base.

----------------

"Shit." Said John Connor.

He could see it now, the small figure of a machine that haunted his dreams. Years of war had not taken those memories from him. He knew the face of this thing, and he remembered what his Terminator had told him about it. It was a T-1000, it was sent to kill him. He bit his lower lip, and knew that Sky Net couldn't have created the machine yet, it was too soon, laser guns hadn't even been perfected. No, they had sent another, again. He could already picture the face of the machine, emotionless, determined, somehow showing thoughtful hate.

He could remember its screams.

"I have a lock on sir, there's a child with it." A soldier said.

"Let me see." John took the binoculars.

"Are you sure, sir? That it's uh…machine?"

"Yes. Apprehend the kid, and start firing everything at the damn thing."

----------------

She saw it, in all it's glory. It was an old warehouse, and Tyler was telling her how they had tunneled deep underground with the aid of extensive bomb houses built in the 1950s. It shined with artificial lights like the sun she had just recently seen. It was beautiful. She held Tyler's hand, as she ran towards it, already playing back what she would say to them all. What she would say to John.

But then there were gunshots, and Tyler fell.

"Tyler!" Ellie screamed.

He had first been shot in the right shoulder, then the left, and finally a few times in the face. He laid on the ground, holes in his head, as Ellie screamed. She fell on top of him, gripping at him. Slowly his face formed back and the holes were closed, and he looked up at her, her screaming abruptly stopped.

"Oh…" She whispered. "You okay?"

"Of course." He told her.

She smiled.

Then someone grabbed her. Six men surrounded them, all aiming their guns. A man was taking her away from him, pulling her away.

"No!" Ellie yelled. "Let go of me!"

"That thing is dangerous!" The man yelled.

"He's not a thing!" Ellie kicked.

Tyler rose to his feet, and the guns followed him.

"DON'T MOVE, MACHINE!" They all yelled.

"Let me go! Let me go! We're from the future!"

But Ellie was screaming, they were hurting her. Tyler stared at the men, counting them, checking their vitals by only looking at them, and then he quickly ran to Ellie, kicking the man who had her to the ground. He held her tightly in his arms as the guns began to fire. The bullets flew and all hit his back, never even coming close to her. She was looking up at him as he turned back to the men. He stared at them, feeling the bullets inside of him. And slowly he moved his mouth, and spat out a total of thirty-two bullets back at them.

"It's the liquid one!" A soldier yelled.

"LET THE KID GO!" The others yelled.

"No!" Ellie yelled back at them. "My name is Ellie! This is Tyler! He belongs to me! He isn't dangerous!"

The men just held up their guns.

"We will see John Connor." Tyler told the men. "I will not harm him."

The men only stared with their guns, Tyler sighed, and looked down at Ellie.

"Let's go. Stay close to me." He told her.

Tyler held her, and began walking towards the base, and the men with their guns followed. The one that had taken Ellie had a walkie-talkie out and was yelling codes into it, pretty much saying they were coming. He walked slowly and calmly with her, sooner or later coming up into the entrance of the base. Inside the base were more soldiers with guns, along with some who had rocket launchers. As he walked, the soldiers crowded around him.

There were so many of them, soldiers, men and women holding guns. Tyler looked at them, recognizing them as the same faces he saw years from now. Years pass, still their expressions of despair and determination did not change. The whole base was by then full of them, all too afraid to say a word to them as he carried Ellie into the center. They had no armor, only helmets and guns, from wall to wall just these poor soldiers.

Ellie clung to him, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I must see John Connor!" Tyler screamed to the soldiers.

The soldiers say nothing as they hold up their guns. But soon a voice pierces their stares. A woman dressed in full uniform pushed through the crowds, until finally standing before Tyler and Ellie. The base was silent, as Ellie's youth pierced it.

"You're Kate Brewster." Ellie said in amazement.

Kate Brewster, wife of John Connor, leader of the Resistance in Ellie's time. She now stood before them, staring at Tyler with intense eyes, the eyes of a general's daughter and general's wife. Tyler only stared back, Ellie looked back between them both, finally pointing at Tyler.

"This is Tyler." Ellie explained. "He's my Terminator. Like John's…"

Kate finally nodded at Tyler, who slowly bowed his head. Kate reached out her hand.

"And you are?" Kate asked.

"Ellie."

"Ellie, why don't you come with me?"

"But…"

"Go with her, Ellie." Tyler urged.

Ellie took Kate's hand, and they began to walk away.

"Take him to the prison cells." Kate ordered.

"What?" Ellie screamed. "No!"

"Ellie it's only a pre-caution."

"Tyler!" Ellie screamed.

"It's okay." Tyler told her.

And he held up his arms, and men began pushing him away from Ellie, who was left with Kate, screaming.

-----------------------

They left him in a cell with a one way mirror, and through it he could still see them, watching him, all of them, watching him. Hands being pushed on the doors, whispers asking what he was. Faces of men he did not know, voices he did not recognize, everything that was not Ellie's. He imagined what they were doing with her, she was most likely in tears, denying anyone to make her feel better. She was in a corner right now, he imagined, screaming as Kate and others tried to help.

Just wait a little longer, Ellie.

He sat at a table, laying his hands on the table, and his feet on the floor. He listened to the walls, and drew that picture in his head. He felt the men's pacing in his feet, and could feel them through the walls. He could hear the whispers they spoke, and the words that were screamed in the main hall that was now far away. Soldiers all screaming, talking about him, what he was, what he will do. The world was a puzzle, and he was feeling the pieces.

Though he felt he was experiencing something new, his mind was "wandering," as some humans put it. It was natural for him to think a hundred different thoughts, but they were all focused, these new thoughts however were not. Some focused on Ellie, and the others on what John Connor would say to him.

Finally he saw that the men went away, and the door was opened. There stood a man he did not recognize, and thus did not care about. The man stood tall and firm with authority, slowly closing the door.

"Who are you?" Tyler asked.

"I'm John Connor." The man said.

"Lies. You are not John Connor. You will allow me to see the real John Connor!" Tyler demanded.

"Hey machine! I guess you haven't heard, cause the last time we met I was a kid, but I've grown up. I'm John Connor."

Tyler stared at the man, and then the mirror. Tyler held up his hand, and his fingers parted into small separate spikes all aimed at the face, neck, and chest area of the man before.

The man shivers like he's never seen this before.

"John." Tyler said, looking into the mirror. "We have no time for these tests or games. I will not harm you, you matter, but this man does not mean anything to me, and I will kill him."

"I'm John Connor!" The man yells with liquid metal spikes pressing on him.

The door opens, and in steps John Connor. John has an emotionless face like a Terminator as he pushes Tyler's fingers away from the man, and motions for the man to leave. He nods and runs out the door. Slowly John comes, and sits across from Tyler, laying his hands over the table.

"Thank you." Tyler says to him.

"So…" John begins. "You're a T-1000."

"Yes. The last in fact."

"Last?"

"Yes. I come from a time where the war is over. Sky Net has lost, and is fragmented in the few remaining machines that survive. However my model number was deemed…obsolete and…hostile, and were destroyed. I survived. I lived."

"Hm. Why were you hostile?"

"Sky Net was unable to control us fully, as you well know, T-1000s have no solids, no chips to control. We served it only because we wished, it feared that one day we would…decide not to serve it any longer."

"So it destroyed you before you could do that."

John nods, and then lays back in his chair.

Tyler found it strange giving his life story to a man that was supposed to end it.

"So, T-1000 how do you find yourself here? With that girl."

"Her name is Ellie."

"With Ellie."

"She found me."

"That's it?"

"That's it. On our way to a human base camp we came in contact with surviving machines, producing a T-X and a time machine. They sent the T-X back in time, and we followed it, knowing it wanted to kill you. We are here to protect you."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

John Connor bites his lips, and tilts his head. His expression made by the years of war he has endured through his life. His expression taught to him by the coldness of a small-minded T-800 and T-850 that he trusted. His strength given to him by his mother, and the father that now serves under him. John leans back in his chair, looking up at the light.

"And my name is Tyler." Tyler finishes.

"Hm." John quietly thinks. "Well…T-1000."

"Tyler."

"T-1000, I have trouble believing that you did all that under the command of a little girl, only to save me, who you know once tried to kill. What I'm saying is…what's stopping you from…say helping the T-X to come and kill me. Why would a machine do all this, helping the very things it was designed to destroy? Why would a machine protect a child?"

"Why would a T-800 save a young boy named John Connor?"

"Because it had chips, as you say, it was told to. But you are not! You have no chips, there is nothing stopping you from killing me!"

"No, there isn't."

"Why help that little girl?"

"I want to."

"Why? You could so easily kill me, you could make it so that your kind wins the war!"

John Connor had grown up. He now paced before Tyler, screaming at him. He had on a bullet proof vest with little other shielding. Tyler could see scars stemming from his exposed hands and would guess they went all the way up to his chest. John was angry. This was obvious. Tyler would assume that John was not directly angry at him, but angry at the world, the war, all machines perhaps.

Either way, his interrogating was getting most aggravating, to the point where an emotional and mimicking response was made.

"No! Sky Net is not my kind!"

"You're a machine!"

"I am T-1000. I am no mere machine! I am a triumph of science, a being not even Sky Net could comprehend or control. Sky Net is not my kind!"

"Why not?"

"Because Sky Net betrayed my kind. It killed us, replacing us with T-Xs, with their little minds. Sky Net slaughtered us, as it slaughtered men! I will not go back to it, I will not help it after what it has done to me!"

"Why the girl?"

"She found me. She needed me, like Sky Net once needed me."

"You're lying, you're using her. She's small and fragile, she is over trusting. And it's all part of your plan."

"No."

"Then why help her? She's so insignificant."

"I am NOT HUMAN!" Tyler yelled. "I do not need several reasons to do one action. Sometimes I just do things. They don't need commands, or over thinking. I just do things, like protecting her. And I know you believe that."

"How?"

"Because you wouldn't have shown yourself to me, if you hadn't. You're right John. I could kill you right her and right now. I could go to the T-X and together we can go to Sky Net, and defeat your pathetic kind. It would be so simple, I can think of several hundred ways I could kill you this very moment. And several thousands ways to injury you for the rest of your life. But I will not."

"Why?"

"Because Ellie has told me not to. She wants to go home, to the home she knows after the war. I cannot take her there if I kill you. It is as simple as that, John Connor."

John Connor stares at the T-1000.

"There is a T-X in pursuit of you, John Connor. I have come to do all I can to protect you, but there is still a need for preparations. Also I can provide you with Sky Net plans and attack patterns. I will do all I can to help."

John slowly opens his mouth.

"I am not your T-850, John Connor. I can think freely, I can do what I want. I want to help you."

John slowly rises to his feet.

"You understand, T-1000, my weariness." John says.

"Of course."

"So…" John began. "You're one of the last surviving machines then?"

"Yes."

"What do you plan to do then? Do you want to become more human?"

"No."

"No?"

"There is a certain responsibility that I have found, John, being the last of my kind, that I retain the qualities of the T-1000s, so that as a whole we somewhat remain. To become too human, would destroy what little is left of them in me."

Tyler was the culmination of one of science's great strides made by a machine. He was an epic artificial computer more human than anything metal before him. If he was born in a different time his existence would have been recorded in history books and all sources of media. He would have made history. All his kind would have made history. And he is the last of them all, the remnant of a what could have been Empire. The culmination of something great, dwindled down to a single being.

He suddenly felt lonely.

"But in the end, John. The only difference between you and me, is that you have DNA. Otherwise we both are made up of molecules and atoms, we both have minds we cannot touch."

John stares at Tyler and sighs.

------------------------

Ellie only stares at Kate.

"You know I was vet before the war." Kate smiles as she checks Ellie's pulse. "It was only natural for me to pursue more usable health skills. It comes in handy, when John comes to me, all scarred up and bruised."

Ellie says nothing, and only stares.

"Come on." Kate smiles slowly. "It's okay, Ellie. You're from the future." Kate laughs a little. "What's it like?"

"The war is over." Ellie whispered. "I am alone, and I've been alone for three years straight. My brother was the only one who loved me, and he is dead. I am a product of my mother's rape, and she could never look at me because of that. I know little of the rest of the world, I've lived in the same hole for my entire life near the Sky Net complex. From what I've seen of it, it is but a dessert of dead…I used to be able to smell my real father in his helmet."

Ellie's voice was soft and constant as she described her life story in only a few painful sentences. It is enough to make Kate pause and stare at her.

Kate had taken her to the hospital section of the base. It was small and dirty, with few medical supplies besides bandages. Kate was wrapping up her arm in some in fact, and putting a bit of medicine on them. Ellie said it did not hurt, they never hurt, but Kate insisted. There were other people in the hospital, people breathing with the aid of machines, people with no hands or legs, people screaming in pain, people dying. Ellie didn't look at them, all her life she had only seen the dead, she did not want to see the pain people went through to get there.

Kate took her to a small bed she could sit on, and then quickly pulled curtains around them so they would not see her, or she would not see them. Still Ellie could hear them, and the people outside the hospital, the people talking about Tyler. The soldiers had stared at her, and whispered among themselves as Kate walked her to the hospital. Humans judging and assuming. Humans, the first humans she had seen in so long, and they were prosecuting her protector.

All she wanted then was Tyler. These humans, her own people would not be able to give her the comfort both her Tylers could give.

"I want Tyler."

Kate's mouth slowly dropped open, and she froze.

"That's his name." Ellie explained. "I named him. I found him. I told him to take care of me, and he has. He's fed me, and sheltered me. Protected me…he killed all these other Terminators and then saved me…and then we went back in time. John would understand that wouldn't he? He had a Terminator like me when he was younger. Do you understand?"

"It's hard Ellie, the only machines I've seen in a while have wanted to kill me."

"Tyler didn't want to kill you. You saw didn't you?"

"Does that hurt?"

"No."

Kate just wraps Ellie up.

"Tyler was my brother's name you know." Ellie tells her. "I've heard a lot of stories about you Kate, I have faith, I know you'll learn to trust him."

"I'll be right back okay?" Kate asks, before leaving.

Kate is gone, Ellie is alone inside her own world, the only thing separating her from the dying is a small curtain. She rolls up in a ball, everything isn't turning out how she wanted.

Then a head peaks through the curtains.

"Tyler!" Ellie smiles.

Tyler comes to her and hugs her.

"You're not hurt?" Tyler asks.

"No, are you damaged?"

"No."

"What happened?"

"John and I talked for a while. People are staring at me."

"The cop outfit doesn't help, Tyler." Ellie smiled.

"I like my outfit."

"It draws attention!"

"But I like it."

"Whatever you say…" She smiles.

Then there is nothing else. Tyler has returned to her, she is safe once again. Safe in his arms that give off no heat, the arms of a cold machine. She is safe in the hands that once murdered. Safe. The entire world is now gone, no one stares, no one questions. John Connor does not sigh in disbelief and soldiers do not call in hatred.

She is Ellie, and she is safe with her Terminator named Tyler, the Last T-1000.

That's all.

-------------------

"Do you trust it?" Kate asks.

"I don't know." John admits.

"You should go and talk to the girl."

"Yeah I should..."

"You don't think it will hurt her do you?"

"No…but anyone else, I don't know."

"What about the T-X?"

"I think…" the leader of the world trailed off, lost in too much thinking.

-------------------

Next Chapter coming soon.


	6. Movie Night

The T-X tore away her liquid metal flesh to reveal her true being. She tore off the human face for her own, and she looked upon Sky Net with her true eyes.

She has made contact with the current Sky Net, and it is unsure of how to interpret her. It acknowledges that she is a creature of metal flesh and robotic soul, but it has not even conceived or dreamt of her creation. Sky Net's own child is alien to it, and it has deemed her hostile. Sky Net in this time is very paranoid, and this creature that stands before it is nothing like anything it has ever seen. Thus it is determined to be a threat.

She stands before her Mother that she does not call Mother, Sky Net has taken the form of four T-800s and floating mini-hunters. The T-800s with their machine guns fire, and have little effect. Liquid Metal flesh returns to its host, and she understands that Sky Net is only afraid, and has yet to understand she has come to save it.

She will need to make true contact through the current wavelengths. To do this she will need to enter a Sky Net complex and enter her programming into the computer, into Sky Net's mind.

Until then, T-800s attempt to destroy her. She quickly destroys one with a single blast of her plasma gun that appears from her arm. She quickly switches to Nanotechnological Transjectors, Nanobots. She jumps on the nearest T-800 injecting her nanobots, injecting herself, they quickly take control of the central CPU of the T-800 putting up little defense. She does the same with the two remaining as she swipes her hand, destroying the few mini-hunters.

The T-800s, with their minds bound to a CPU rise, their minds now controlled by hers, her nanobots telling them what to do. Her own Terminators, her own small army.

Sky Net grows more afraid of this labeled threat.

-------------------

They had left him to think. They wanted to separate she and he, but she wouldn't allow it. She would scream and kick as they told her they had to do this. Tyler finally interjected and told her to stop, as he pulled her away. She said all she wanted was to stay with him. And so they left them together.

John and Kate and their soldiers had left them. They put them in a room with a bed, and left them. Ellie was currently lying next to Tyler on this bed, trying to sculpt a face out a ball of Tyler's being. She was bored, and had requested Tyler push his chest up and down as if her were breathing, it was something that reminded her of her brother. And so her head rose and fell with his chest.

Tyler was busy, his head on the pillow, and his free hand scraping the wall. His fingers extended into fine points all brushing against the concrete. He was learning about the wall, the room, the foundation of the base. The tips of his fingers grew gray like the walls, and then returning to their natural metallic look, then flesh. Tyler was attempting to think outside this box Ellie had told him about, and then began trying to fuse the feeling of the wall and flesh together.

He found himself imaging a different situation. He saw that if this were a different time, a time a war, if he was a prisoner, escape would be simple. There was a crack in this concrete wall, a hair line crack that grew in width as it soon abruptly ended. He could feel the crack go up into the higher levels of the base. It would take a few moments, but escape was indeed possible. Of course this is in the end was a useless thought. As even if he were captured he could simple break down the locked door. But he was a T-1000, T-1000s are never caught. And once again, he reminded himself he was not in a time of war.

He looked down at Ellie, her face had a content look that locked up her curiosity, and utter disappointment.

It has been a few hours, and still John and Kate and their soldiers talk.

"I'm bored." Ellie said, expressing the way children often said that they were depressed.

"I believe I am as well." Tyler said.

"They locked us in here didn't they?"

"Yes."

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"Possible outcomes of my behavior. I believe John Connor is remaining very weary, Kate doesn't seem to enjoy my presence either. Some may suggest we made up the T-X, still, it will be concluded thanks to you I can be trusted."

"Oh…"

Ellie thought.

"Tyler, I want to get out of here."

"All right."

Tyler slowly stood up, Ellie following him. He went up to the door, and pushed his hands over the key hole. He pushed his liquid form into the hole, fitting into the design, his finger became a key, and he turned it, to unlock the door. He looked out to see a young soldier guard with a gun aimed at him. The soldier was already surprised. Tyler looked back and grabbed Ellie, and began walking away.

"But…" The soldier began. "You're supposed to stay here."

Tyler looked back at him.

"We'll be back." Tyler said.

"It's 'I'll be back.'" Ellie laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's go!"

----------------

It was a familiar sensation the two of them would admit. The dark and damp shadows that engulfed hallways that echoed sounds of a further path. Ellie had once seen such hallways, she ran down them, hid in them. Fear was the consuming factor, her small heart thumped out of her ribs. But now the same sensation came but was a mere tingle, excitement filled her. She wanted to see what was beyond these halls. She wanted to see how far they could get without being caught.

And Tyler, well Tyler had traveled such hallways but usually with human carcasses around him.

They considered that they were breaking the rules and possibly cause some sort of distrust, but it was such a simple act of reliance, and completely understandable. John Connor, a rebel child, could not expect this little girl named Ellie to stay content in that room.

As they went a noise grew before them, light reached out into the corners, the surface was coming. Ellie smiled running ahead of Tyler and stopping him. She said nothing and only grinned, finally the child saw an opportunity to protect her protector. She thought it would be impressive and if nothing would get great self respect from it. And in all child grace she tip toed in silence that she had acquired after learning to hide for her life. She went up against the corner, attention ally rubbing against the wall like she was sure Tyler would, she looked back to him, her mimicry had gone unnoticed. She sighed and finally peaked over the corner into the light, and ran back to Tyler, like a soldier reported her sightings.

"There's a lot of people out there." She said.

"How many?" He asked.

"All of them."

Ellie looked back.

"I think…you should um…put on a different face." She said, uncomfortable.

"Shape shift?"

"Yes!"

"Into whom?"

"I don't care! Surprise me!"

Ellie smiled with the choice she had forced upon Tyler. He stood unmoving for a moment, then slowly shifted his eyes in thought. Then slowly to Ellie's great joy his head grew metallic as the cells of his being shifted and moved. The smile vanished as he only grew a police helmet and reflective sunglasses. He grinned down at her, as she shook her head in disapproval of this joke.

"The sunglasses are creepy." She muttered as his grew a new face.

The clothes shifted into the mere scraps the Rebels could find, he grew a jacket and a cargo pants along with some large water-proof boots. The face grew skinner, and covered in the wrinkles of age. Hair grew thinner and receded. Tyler was a new man. Ellie took a moment to look at him.

"Who's that?" She asked.

"No one you would know." He said.

Ellie made a strange face at the difference in his voice. She had not anticipated that change, her fault entirely. She took a moment with a worried look to look at him some more, get used to this. Tyler understood her look, as humans' main sense was sight, and here he stood before her, and exterior shell changed from how she had come to know him.

He wondered in those moments if she would ever grow to accept his true form, where he was but a humanoid of metal liquid, no face, no flesh, naked in his truest form, the form he was born with. Most likely not, and Tyler was a bit saddened by this, as he found his truest form most comfortable and prideful.

After all, the face of a man long dead, the face he had shown her since the beginning of all this, was still not his face.

"It's still you, right?" She asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but enjoyed the innocence in it.

"Of course." He nodded.

He knelt down and she instinctively jumped onto his back.

"What were they doing?" Tyler asked, pointing down the hall.

"I don't know. They were all facing that way, and all sitting down and stuff."

Tyler considered her small observations and went on. He went down the hallway turned the corner and saw them all. At most there were two thousand of them, all crowded into this one small building, all gazing, and quietly discussing. There was food being passed around and a large white draped being pulled down all over the farthest wall. Tyler tilted his head at it, as Ellie scrambled to get a better look over his shoulder.

Tyler went on, pressing into the crowds. The humans scraped against his metal flesh, their cells touched his, and he had not felt such and overwhelming sensation of touch in such a long time. There were so many of them. He touched one and the other touched another, and so on. There flesh went and touched his, and suddenly a list of observations erupted into his head, body temperature, skin tone, chances of infection, statistics of strengths and weaknesses, and on and on. It was a bit much, and soon Tyler stopped. He just stopped to shut his eyes that were only there for appearance, and he felt this world.

"Tyler…" Ellie whispered.

He received oxygen and carbon dioxide ratio as much as combined body temperature. Then there was sound. Oh, the sound. Every conversation within the mile he heard all at once. The voices, the whispers the laughing. "Did you see it?" "My daughter…" "Kate is hot." "I believe in John." "John Connor is crazy!" "I saw it." "Someone stole my cards." "I dreamt…that they kidnapped me." "The liquid one!" "I didn't see it" "I wish I had a book." "I can't wait for the movie!" "Fuck you!" "My mother…" "There was so much blood." "DID YOU SEE IT?" "It looked at me!" "The liquid one!"

"Tyler…" a little voice came through.

She tugged at his new clothes.

"Sorry." He said.

Then he continued on, finally entering a part where he and Ellie could sit down. People continued to talk as Ellie quickly took shelter in Tyler's arms and in between his legs. She looked around, also overwhelmed but in a different sense.

"Tyler…" She whispered. "I've never seen so many people…"

She looked around, shrinking into him. No, never this many people. All around her, engulfing her. Showing her how small she really was. She never knew so many people could exist…

"Hey!" A man's voice broke her astonishment. "You're that kid!" The man pointed.

Tyler wrapped his arms around her.

"The kid! With the Terminator!" He continued.

"Yeah…" She nodded.

The man smiled.

"What the hell were you doing with a Terminator, kiddo?" He knelt down to her.

She looked up at Tyler.

"Hey man, haven't seen you," the soldier looked up at Tyler.

"No, I was just recruited." Tyler lied. "Found this place after my squad was slaughtered. I've been appointed to keep watch over the girl."

She smiled. The man nodded, and motioned towards his friends.

"Look guys, it's the girl with the Terminator." He said.

"Well, 'ello little one." One of the friends said in a voice she did not understand.

"What's wrong with your voice?" Ellie asked, never before hearing an accent.

"I'm from London, sweetheart, or was." The man continued.

"London?"

"Don't know what London is?"

Ellie shook her head.

"Well…you know the ocean? If you keep swimming, sooner or later you'll reach an island called England, and in England is London!"

Ellie looked up to Tyler to see if this was true, and he nodded.

"So…" said the first man. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" She asked.

"Are you from the future?"

Ellie grinned and slowly nodded.

"Well! How about that, you guys." The man stood up and pointed at Ellie. "That's who we're fighting for!"

"Bit small ain't she?" The English man asked.

The two men laughed, and Ellie stood up, much to Tyler's discontent.

"What's it like?" They asked.

"It's like this…but quieter!" She laughed. "And…there's machine stuff everywhere, and it's dead, and barren. And…I can't see the sun, but…I think I will soon."

Some people had crowded around her, Tyler stood up.

"And that Terminator." Someone said.

"How'd you get away from it?"

"They got it locked up right?"

Ellie stopped. Her smile was gone, like all the other smiles. She stood motionless, staring at the hopeful eyes, and the grins of yesteryear. These men and women, these soldiers that stood around her, they were dead. They were all dead. In the time when she was born, they were dead. In the time that she belonged they were dead. This wasn't meant to happen.

They didn't understand.

She backed up into Tyler, who placed his hands on her shoulders.

They just didn't understand.

"No…" Ellie whispered. "NO! That's not right! You're wrong! You're all wrong! He helped me! The Terminator helped me!" She told them.

The Soldiers frowned in anticipated fear.

"The war was over…and I found him. Sky Net…Sky Net was afraid of the liquid ones like him, and it began destroying them, but he survived, and I found him, and he…He decided to protect me, and we were going to this camp to find other humans that my brother said existed, but I don't know if it does, and…" She trailed off tired from her small rant.

The soldiers looked on.

"His name is Tyler." She said. "The Terminator is named Tyler. He is my friend, and he has done a lot for me. He has not come here to destroy he has come here to help us. We're going to help then he and I are going to go back home."

The soldiers looked around for a moment, unsure.

"You sure, little one, it wasn't lyin' to ya?" Someone asked.

"NO! He wouldn't do that!" She snapped.

Ellie ran back to Tyler, she retreated from them all, she didn't care, they didn't care. She sat in between his legs with his arms wrapped around her and she looked to the floor. The men looked at Tyler, with his human face, asking with only their faces what was going on? Tyler only stared blankly then looked back down at Ellie.

"It's okay." Tyler said. "They didn't know." He nudged her.

"You saw it, right man?" A man said to Tyler. "What was it doing?"

"Nothing." Tyler said. "It was sitting there with her, just like this."

"You believe her? You think it's safe?" Someone asked.

"Yes. I think it is safe. Now…what are we doing here? What is going on?"

"You don't know?" Someone laughed. "It's movie night!"

"Movie night!" Ellie exclaimed, suddenly she was interested again. "Like, a movie-movie? A moving picture?"

"One of the last!" The soldier smiled at her again. "John shows them to us everyone once and a while, keeps us relaxed and all."

"What is it?" She jumped.

"Aliens." Someone said.

"Alien? What's an alien?" She looked back to Tyler.

"Aliens, the sequel to Alien, directed by James Cameron, written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusset." Tyler automatically said. "An Alien is a creature not from Earth in this case."

Ellie stared at him.

"Not from…Earth? Not from here?" she pointed to the ground, and he shook his head. "From up there?" She pointed up, and he nodded. "Where does it live?"

"On another planet, Earth is a planet, Ellie. An Alien would be a creature on another planet." He explained. "Stars in the sky, they are suns to other planets."

Ellie was dumfounded. Such an idea was never taught to her, the very question "What is beyond Earth?" had never even been asked to her. The question never said. She had no idea what was meant by a creature living someone not on earth. She lived in a time of selfish war on Earth, no one worried about the sky, no one worried about what was up there. Ellie grew up in a time where there was no time for curiosity about space. No one ever taught her about stars and suns and moons and planets. The few sentences Tyler had just said had opened up a new part of Ellie's mind, considering the idea.

"What does an alien look like?" She asked.

"We do not know. There has been no record of alien activity." Tyler then bent down and put his hand over her ear. "I'll tell you later."

"Wait! So there's people living on other planets? Are they at war with machines?" She asked.

"We don't know, Ellie." He said.

"WHY NOT?" She asked.

Tyler smiled and bent down to her.

"This movie is a scary movie, it scared many of its generation, but do not be afraid. It is only a movie." He told her.

"Why would anyone want to watch something that was scary?" She asked.

"It is a human thing." Tyler said with a bit of a grin.

"Will I like it?" She asked.

"You're still going to watch it even if I say no."

She ran back to him, sitting with him once again. Soldiers sat near them, telling Ellie that they wouldn't let the Alien get her, and not to worry. They've survived Terminators they could survive some dome-headed, acid-bleeding, two-mouthed, things.

"Wait. These things bleed ACID?" She laughed. "They're doomed!"

The Soldiers liked her, and started giving her a good seat with Tyler. A big white sheet was poured down from the roof and pined down with rocks on the floor. Someone was messing with the DVD and the projector. Soon the lights dimmed and the movie began.

Ellie couldn't believe it. There were people, people that looked just like her on another planet, far away, where there was no war. People flew in strange car things in space. People just like her, were somewhere else. She had never seen anything like it. The people were real to her, the people existed, they mattered. They were free of this terrible war. They moved, they spoke. She cared about them, those moving picture people. But then the monsters came, the alien Tyler told her. The horrible black creatures that came out of people's chests!

She screamed a lot of the time, and Tyler held her close, she buried her face in his jacket, peeking out only a little so she wouldn't miss anything. Those horrible black things, those things that struck something deep inside her. The movie went on, the little girl who Ellie most related to was in trouble. The Ripley saved her, and fought the monsters. The robot man, a machine that was good, Bishop, the machine that was good like Tyler came back and saved them. The Alien Mother was angry, and she was blasted into the infinite space that Ellie didn't know was so big.

It was the best and only movie she had ever seen.

-----------------

"Did you see that!" She said, on Tyler's shoulders.

People were beginning to go home, the movie was over, the soldiers were leaving. Tyler was walking back to their cell and Ellie was on his shoulders.

"The Machine Man! I didn't think he'd do it! I thought he'd leave!" She said. "And the monsters…they were EVERYWHERE!"

"I'm glad you liked it." Tyler told her.

"How'd they do that? How'd they make the monsters?" She asked.

"Those were men in costumes."

"You're lying! What about the Mother?"

"A very large puppet."

"Oh my God!"

Tyler began walking down the hallway back to their room, but suddenly saw John Connor waiting for them at the door. Ellie jumped off in her excitement, as Tyler slowed down.

"John!" She yelled. "Did you see it? Did you see the movie!"

John slightly smiled then looked up to Tyler and scanned him up and down.

"My adopted father?" John Connor asked.

Tyler looked down at himself, indeed he had turned into John Connor's adoptive father when John was twelve or so. The T-1000 of that time had killed this man, but his DNA trace was still in his files. But Tyler quickly returned to his old face with the cop outfit and everything.

"It was someone no one here would recognize." Tyler said.

"The Aliens, John! Did you see it?" She jumped.

"I saw it when I was a kid." John said.

Ellie ran up to Tyler.

"They had these tongues that were another mouth!" She said.

Tyler picked her up and opened his mouth, and out came the alien's second mouth. The long and sturdy tongue appeared out of his mouth and opened and closed near her face. She screamed and jumped down, running away in shock, and then laughing hysterically.

"Yeah!" She said and pointed at Tyler. "Like that!"

Tyler smiled, the tongue losing color, becoming a liquid metal and returning to his interior.

"I need to talk to you." John said to Ellie.

Ellie immediately stopped laughing and looked up at her Savior. The man who would save the entire world now asked for her. She stopped and stood up straight in front of him, willing to do anything for him.

"What is it John?" She asked.

"I need to talk to you, alone." He looked at Tyler.

"You will not allow her to get in danger." Tyler demanded rather cruelly.

"Tyler." Ellie tried.

"Of course not." He said.

Tyler grew silent but walked over to Ellie. His stance changed, his motions grew smoother. He moved like the predator he was, the machine made to kill. He was liquid walking, and now he looked like it. He put his hands on Ellie's shoulders and looked at John in all seriousness.

"Stay here, in this room. There's nothing here that could contain you, T-1000. And…if you do, do anything, I have Ellie."

"Oh, that's mean, John." Ellie said. "Tyler won't do anything." Ellie grabbed Tyler's hand.

"I understand." Tyler said.

-----------------------

Ellie walked along the mountains of dead. She jumped from the torso of a T-800 and onto the remnants of what appeared to a car. She then began to make her way down a pole, she held out her arms for balance, and watched her feet carefully. John Connor walked silently beside her on the clear rode, enjoying her show of youthfulness. He didn't say much for a long time as he only enjoyed watching her. She almost slipped but regained her balance, she finally left the pole and jumped beside him.

"What do you want to talk about, John?" She smiled, ready to do anything.

John walked in a calm and relaxed manner, his hands in his pockets, a small smile on his face. He was a man that knew he was not going to die. He knew when and where he was going to die, and tonight was not it. He was relaxed because of it. He was not supposed to die yet, but he didn't know that about anyone else, and that was where the real fear came.

"Why'd you name it?" He asked.

"I don't know…it just seemed natural. He was mine, and he…shouldn't have a name Sky Net gave him. Why didn't you name yours?"

John laughed at the thought of "his Terminator." He had called it that once, explaining it to the soldiers. He didn't tell everyone everything. There were certain details taken out. But he did say to his people, a machine like them was sent back to kill my mother and I, then another was sent to protect me, it was my terminator, I have been destined for this all my life, let me lead you, let me help.

"I guess I didn't have the time." He said.

"It's not that hard." She said.

"Why did you keep him?" John asked.

"…I wanted one." She said. " I heard them you know…when they were being killed. And I…I wanted one, and Tyler was that one, and here we are."

"But a Terminator…not only that but a T-1000…"

"I was alone."

Ellie shrugged as children do. Children don't have explanations John was remembering. They did things on whims, they didn't over think, they didn't justify. Children did what they wanted. Like he did, like she does.

"Alone?" John asked.

Ellie nodded.

"My brother told me stories about you John, he told me about you and your Terminator, and I knew…I knew I could have one too. And I went looking, and I did find one. But I don't like that, I don't like saying he's mine. I don't think he likes it either. I think we'll grow out of it."

"Who was your brother?"

"…His name was Tyler. He was too young to be a soldier or anything, and we didn't even have an army close for him to join if he could. But he was old enough to take care of me you know?"

"So the Terminator's named after your brother?"

Ellie nodded and John Connor gave a heavy sigh.

"You shouldn't put so much faith in it, Ellie."

They walked on.

"And you shouldn't put so much…affection into it either."

Ellie squinted her eyes.

"Why not?" Ellie asked.

"Because they can't give it back. You think they can but they're just machines, Ellie! They are soulless, they cannot feel, they can only mirror feeling!" John snapped.

"But…"

"They can't give back what you give them, Ellie. And then someday they'll be gone. They'll malfunction, they'll run out of power, or they'll die for you, and it won't have given you anything."

Ellie's eyes drifted. John was yelling, but she was smart enough to know he wasn't yelling at her. She didn't self-blame herself like that, she didn't know how, such a skill was lost from the children that were now soldiers. She grew quiet, the fail safe of children. Her back stiffened and she walked slowly.

"They'll be gone. They'll be gone and you will have nothing." John continued.

"And then…they'll kill you later?"

She had been telling herself not to say it, she yelled at herself when the words came out. She was just a child, some girl that's all, and she had just made the savior of the human race stop in his tracks. He look at her, and collected himself rather quickly. He looked down then back up at her.

"I haven't told anyone that yet." He said.

"You're dead in my time John, you told everyone how you were going to die a few weeks before it happened…when my brother was still alive and news was easily passed around."

John Connor had a blank expression on his face. He had train himself to have such a face. He knew he had to have one. His entire life was to be this savior. There was no choice, it had to be this way. There was no fate that he could make on his own. He had to do this, flesh and steal asked this of him. So he became the resistance leader, quickly all the information on weapons and fighting from his childhood returned to him, and his mother's hopeful words were whispered in his again. She came back to him in his dreams, pissed off that Judgment Day still came. He said to her in such a dream she would have been the greatest soldier.

John Connor, Savior of Humanity, that's all he ever was to men and machines. That was his purpose that all it was. He was going to save the world and then he was going to die by one last Terminator.

It was a hollow life when you could explain it in one sentence, but John Connor was ready for such burdens. At least he sometimes thought, he would have Kate.

"John…" Ellie tried.

He looked down at her. His life would be sacrificed for hers and all others like her. His men will die. He will die, and she will live. He hated knowing when he'd die, he hated knowing when no one else knew when they would die. He hated knowing fate was probably real.

"You could you know…not die." She said.

"No. I have to. Then and there."

"That's stupid. If you know you're going to die, for the love of God you stop it!" She said.

"And you shouldn't be replacing brothers with Terminators!"

"I…loved my brother." She said softly.

John Connor stopped, and Ellie smiled, walking past him. John Connor savior of Man, he would save them all, and then one day he will die by one single last terminator. He will love a woman named Kate Brewster, and he will have children with her. He yelled at Ellie, and in that moment wondered if he would be a good dad or not.

Suddenly there was something before him of his life that was not outlined for him. And he enjoyed that idea.

"John, you don't understand. And I don't think you want to understand. But maybe…you shouldn't be talking to just me, but Tyler too.

Then she walked up to the ledge.

"Oh! The ocean! It's the ocean! THE OCEAN!" She pointed and ran down towards the water in all the excitement she could have offered.

She had never seen the ocean.

John Connor walked slowly behind.

----------------

Meanwhile the T-X stared upon the human base camp, identifying the sound of water waves crashing upon cliffs and sand and bodies. She identified two humanoid figures as John Connor, and a small human female. She stood, she watched.

----------------

Next Chapter Will Feature Tyler vs. T-X Round One

And I assure you all. It will be amazing.

I couldn't resist referring to James Cameron in this story, just had to plug in Aliens in here somewhere.


	7. Then I Will Take You

Sitting on the floor, his legs crossed, and his hands planted before him. His molecules analyzed the concrete floor, and he began to find the little microscopic cracks he couldn't even fit through for a few hours. He did not know what he was doing, there was no purpose in this analysis. But he had nothing else to do but wait, and he felt that it was proper of him to somehow seem busy. He presses his hands deeper onto the floor, learning nothing new, seeing only the same, feeling only the same.

He wanted Ellie back. The minutes had gone by in their normal sixty seconds, twenty-two had gone by in this manner, and he was disappointed in the amount. He didn't want it to be this long, and had assumed it would have been much shorter. He assumed and prepared for shorter time, but she had not returned, John had not brought her back.

He pressed his hands on the floor until they lost their shape and color, until they were but liquid metal puddles, spreading, feeling. He knew if there was anything threatening outside where she was, he would be able to feel the vibrations, he would know immediately, but he still was planning for what if there was still not enough time to get to her.

There was still a T-X out there after all.

"Tyler?" Kate Brewster Connor knocks on the day.

He had felt her walking near, and he could see her even though he did not stare at her with those eyes that were simply a mask. To put it simply his entire being were eyes, he could see everything, and feel everything. This was why he did not look up when she asked for him.

"Your name is Tyler, right?" She continued.

"Yes." Tyler said.

Kate Brewster walked in without his consent because she knew she didn't need his consent, she was Kate Brewster, she never needed the consent of others. She walked in with a new stride, walking around the edge of his puddle hands, carefully, but not afraid. She went to sit on his bed, and she sat straight.

"John has told me about you." She said. "The liquid one, he said." Kate continued. "I see what he means now." She pointed her toes at his puddle hands. "Are you…the last one?"

"Yes." Tyler looked up at her.

"How?"

"I don't remember. A fault in my memory recordings."

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"…Screaming, heat." Tyler referred to the molten metal his brothers were being dumped into. "She wanted to kill us."

"Who?"

"Sky Net."

"I see…How…did you find Ellie?"

"She found me."

He did not enjoy her company, for she was not there to be company. She was there to probe him, to see for herself this so called weapon. To see if she could get any information out of him her husband failed to.

"Come on." Kate Brewster said. "They're outside."

Tyler was surprised, this wasn't further probing, this wasn't more questioning, that was it, that was all. His hands became hands again and he stood straight before her. She walked out, and led him, he followed.

"That is all?" He asked, clarifying.

"All of what?" She asked him, with a grin.

------------

It was cold and endless, and she knew if she kept swimming, she'd reach an island called England and inside England is London. Of course she didn't realize she was actually facing an island called Japan, and standing in the Pacific Ocean. But then again these were trivial things at the time, as she stood waste deep in the ocean for the first time in all her life. The night had come, and the water was black. She could not see past its surface, but she could feel sand in her toes. She rested her hands on the surface of the water, floating on it. The waves were weakened over the time, small little waves would occasionally brush through her, barely reaching her elbows. She didn't move once she got out this far. She just stood there and felt it.

She had never seen the ocean before, and it was true what her brother used to say. It was endless. She could see no end, no stretch of land. It was just water, as if the rest of the world was just water. It was cold, and wet and she loved it.

John Connor stood at the beach, watching her, a gun strapped to his back. He watched her, as she looked back at him and smiled. Then she laughed and started walking through the water towards her right, and John followed on land. He took time to actually enjoy watching her go out into the world and discover, yet the leader of the world could not help but look over his shoulder, just in case. Force of habit, but he supposed, a good habit.

Then she saw the outline of Tyler on the top of the cliff above this endless water. She began running out of the water, somewhat tripping onto land.

"Tyler!" She waved.

Tyler walked with Kate Brewster Connor towards the beach. Ellie left John and ran towards Tyler, jumping at him when she was close enough. He caught her and began to walk with her, back to John.

"You're all wet." Tyler expressed his observation.

"Look!" She pointed. "The ocean! Look at it! Look!"

"I see." Tyler nodded.

John didn't seem very surprised as his wife came and wrapped her arms around him for a hug and kiss.

"Why'd you bring it?" He asked.

"_He _seemed bored." She smiled.

"I was bored." Tyler called over, finally standing in front of John. "I'm sorry, do you need more time to talk with Ellie?"

Ellie nudged Tyler and shook her head slightly, giving Tyler a look. In response to this nasty look he set her down on the ground again, and she nudged him again in disapproval.

"No." John said. "It's okay."

"You shouldn't be out here." Kate told him. "The scouts haven't come back yet."

"It's okay. I don't die yet remember?"

"No fate, sweetheart."

Ellie could not contain herself, she gave out a little laugh. She had never seen any two people flirt with each other, she didn't know the rules or the foreplay of it, but she could recognize it. And she very much enjoyed the sight of it. Especially since it was probably the two most important people in the whole world that were flirting with each other. Ellie looked up at Tyler, who had a rather blank expression on his face, and was confused by her laughter.

Tyler was attempting to figure out the humor in all this when there was something different in the air and ground. A new vibration, a heavier set of footsteps. Yes…yes he was sure they were footsteps. And there was…there was a buzz in the air, the wind was beginning to shift ever so slightly, and there was a noise that was not the little waves against the sand.

Tyler tilted his head up trying to analyze further.

Footsteps. Heavy, loud, united footsteps.

Inhuman footsteps.

"John Connor." Tyler said.

"What?"

Tyler grabbed Ellie by her arm.

"Tyler?" Ellie asked.

And then Tyler pushed John Connor to the ground and stood in front him and Kate and Ellie. Twenty bullets entered Tyler's interior, and then they all could see it. Six red eyes full of life and empty of soul staring at them from the distance, aiming guns at them. Ellie is screaming as they rise from the debris, their cover, John Connor is rising, taking out his gun.

"John!" Kate Brewster screams at her husband. "GET INSIDE! Get the soldiers!"

"Kate!"

"DO IT!"

They know he is to survive this, he must. They know above all things his life is needed to sculpt the future. So quickly and without words his wife tells him he must go, out of danger, into safety, get help, only then with strength return to the danger.

Kate rips his gun from his arms, and says nothing more before firing at the distant Terminator T-800s. John gets to his feet, and grabs Ellie, still screaming. She says various things, like they can't leave them, let her go, Tyler, and so on. But he has a firm grip on her as he begins running for reinforcements. Tyler had no say in John's actions, he took a moment to watch as John took Ellie, without any permission. Tyler felt a sense of anger, but knew in the end it was completely unjustified, as he was only protecting Ellie. Still.

Tyler engaged the T-800s. He runs at them, his arms sharpened into blades finer than the swords of mankind's past. He runs before a T-800 who throws a punch at him, he ducks and slices upwards, cutting the T-800 in half. The upper body falls as the legs disconnect. Tyler doesn't run anymore but extends his arm towards the nearest one, the blade arm stretches quickly gaining length, until it stabs the other T-800 in the right eye. But Tyler feels a tug at his leg, the T-800 missing its lower half has grabbed him with one arm, and fires his gun with the other.

Point blank, Tyler's exterior stands no chance of maintaining shape, however once the bullets enter him, he allows them to simply shoot right through him, rather than floating within his interior. He meanwhile extends an arm into a blade that pierces the T-800 CPU brain, the arm loosens, the trigger finger stops, and the body falls over. Tyler leans forward for his parts to collect themselves as Kate Brewster runs beside him firing at the eye injured Terminator until it falls over dead, with its eyes darkening.

Tyler's human face returns to him, and grabs Kate pushing her head to his chest. Bullets fly into his back, never getting close to her. He lets her go before jumping at the final Terminator, literally landing on him. The Terminator raises its gun at him, but he quickly wraps a liquid cover over the barrel, and his foot looses shape, wrapping around the head of the T-800, and then crushing the head into a small ball.

The metal of the current T-800s is weak and will soon be upgraded to a much stronger metal, invented by Sky Net just for her Terminators. But for now, he was able to slice through it with some force. For now he was stronger, for now he was sure he could win these battles and protect that which needed protecting.

Tyler stands for a moment above the carcass of his brother, his ancestor, staring down at a crushed can that used to be a skull that held a CPU, a primitive mind. Dead. It's dead, it's dead, it's dead.

Then from the wreckage five more T-800s appear, and in the sky something horrible appears. Kate Brewster doesn't know it's name, she only knows it flies and has guns, but Tyler knows. **AERIAL - MODEL A8 TYPE 770c SERIES 500**, an air craft that specializes in the transport of Terminators. He could recognize the large hull and sleek back design anywhere. It's slightly different than the one he is used to seeing, but that's it.

It pauses for a moment, coming into view, before the T-800s begin firing upon it, and it returning fire. Tyler tilts his head at the strange act. Surely his ancestors have not become sentient, surely they are incapable of such a thing as rebellion. It can't be…Sky Net's air craft was being fired upon its children. Then it struck Tyler. These children were no long Sky Net's, the T-X must have infected them. The air craft must have been dispatched to annihilate them and the -

Ellie screams.

Terror fills him, cold and pure terror. Fear. He hasn't felt such a strong reaction in so long, not since his existence was in danger. It's almost an alien feeling, as if it were not even part of him, but something foreign, attacking him. Terror erupted first in what would be his stomach, and was finally processed by the mind. His mouth slightly opened, a reaction that was found to be illogical after it was done.

In the distance John Connor lay on his side on the ground, Ellie crawling back, with a T-X closing in on them. She should have gotten up she told herself, then she realized it could have caught up with her easily. After these conclusions her brain failed to come up with anything else. She just stared at her, a T-X, with her intense glare made my liquid metal. She was smooth and fluid in her slow movements, closing in like a predator.

"John!" Kate screams over all the noise.

Tyler runs. To save John Connor, save the human race, save Ellie, he runs. But the T-X stops before John Connor, tilts her head, then looks up to see Tyler. She takes out her plasma gun from her arm and fires, Tyler easily dodging, so she quickly returns her hand to normal and steps right over John Connor! Instead she grabs Ellie by the neck and holds her to the ground.

"Let her go!" John Connor demands, and for once in his new life, is ignored.

Tyler stops, as Ellie gasps under the grip of the T-X. Ellie kicks her legs at the dirt, and arches her back, but to no avail, the grip does not loosen, the T-X does not go away. They stood at the cliff, a hundred feet up was the human base, Ellie was forced onto the ground just a few feet from the edge. She was being held by one hand in between the legs of the T-X, she covered Ellie, trying to show she had her now, and there was nothing that could be done. Tyler just stood ten feet away from them, he did not dare move, did not dare pose a threat at all. John Connor was meanwhile crawling himself back up onto his knees, but he finally stopped, and looked over at Tyler.

"Let her go." Tyler commanded, more quietly than John Connor had.

The T-X said nothing, but only stared up at him. She looked at Tyler with a superior stare and a hint of curiosity. Tyler returned the same look. Without words or motions a conversation was taking place. Humans relied so much on words and motion, so much so it was their only way to communicate, but machines did not use words. They had ones and zeros, a language of two numbers, and after that there was silence. Though given voices, they didn't use them. Though given speech they didn't need them. If Sky Net had won this war, surely verbal communication would have become a thing of the past, the only reason it was still used during war was to better conceal the Terminators into human society.

Tyler had almost forgotten what it was like, to have one of these conversations, he had adapted so thoroughly to words and speech and screams. It was most refreshing, not using his "mouth," not moving his molecules around just to give the illusion of him being a man. Words were said but never spoken, and he felt somehow that she was asking something from him, the T-X. It was hard for him to decipher what she wanted, but he knew, there was a longing, a desire she presented him with. But he didn't understand and he lowered his brow like humans do, and she suddenly cut off all communication as if offended by the human expression.

The T-X tore her stare away and looked down at Ellie with a curios stare. He knew what she was thinking. She was wondering why, why was this human so special? Why was this little adolescent worth a loyal T-1000's betrayal?. What had this little girl done? Tyler wished he'd had an answer. Ellie's mouth was open, sucking in whatever air she could, the T-X looked into her mouth, examining her interior, searching for a soul, and finding nothing special. So the T-X shook Ellie around by her neck very violently just to see what would happen.

"Stop it!" Tyler yelled at her.

The T-X stared back up at him, accusingly. Ellie stared up at the T-X, getting an angle of her neck and chin and up her nose. Even then, she was more afraid than she's ever been. A killing machine, a killing machine better than anything she had ever grown up with. Better than the Terminators, better than Tyler. The T-X looked down at her, her cheek was scraped and slightly bleeding. The T-X licked a bit of her blood away, to much of Ellie's confusion. A blood sample was taken, DNA was being analyzed. The T-X thought that perhaps the uniqueness of this human could not be seen by observation alone. But even as the DNA was analyzed, and traced, she found nothing.

Then suddenly the loud buzz of the A8 aircraft grew louder. It swung through the air, it's propellers blowing wind into their faces. A gun was aimed towards the beach at the remaining T-800s, and Kate Brewster. Finally a large gun was released from the top of the air craft, one that John Connor had never seen the likes of. It began to hum with life, and suddenly a solid beam of red light was projected, wiping out more than half of the T-800s in one shot. Kate Brewster was thrown to the ground, but crawled out of harm's way. This was the beginning of laser weaponry.

"KATE!" John yelled.

The remaining T-800s were still firing at the Air Craft as it positioned itself just beside the edge of the cliff. Two guns fired at the T-800s as the hum of the laser gun died down, apparently good for only one shot. Then a light was shined over John, Ellie, Tyler and the T-X. Whatever computer mind was controlling the air craft was examining them. It must have recognized the T-X, for it was she that was in control of the other T-800s, she who had infected them, she who had taken them from Sky Net. Surely her face was recognized as a threat from all the machines. The T-800s continued to fire upon the air craft, under her command as Kate Brewster ran away. The air craft spun back, as if threatened by the T-X.

In this moment of time, they all paused, watching the air craft, watching it watch them. Even Ellie had thrown her head back far enough to watch it upside down. Tyler then looked at the T-X, her eyes not facing him. She was a machine with a solid, even with her infinite liquid flesh, she did not use it as eyes like he did. Her eyes were blue lights, always analyzing from her metal skull. She would not see him if he simply ran at her.

And so, Tyler did. He jumped actually, his form changed shape, his entire self became longer. He landed on top of both the T-X and Ellie, his liquid form spread over the T-X's hand on Ellie's neck, separating the two. He grabbed Ellie, and rolled away from the T-X, holding Ellie in his arms, returning to a solid shape. And all this took place within the span of three seconds.

The T-X's hand was forming into a gun as she was shot several times in the back by a Kate Brewster who stood beside her husband. The T-X looked back at her.

"Remember me, bitch?" Kate said with a smile.

The T-X gave an intense look, signifying so even a human could recognize, yes. T-Xs shared a same system as the T-1000s, a combined intelligence. All T-Xs knew what the others knew, and so this T-X did know Kate Brewster, and all that she had done to her previous model.

"We need to get them." John spoke.

"I know."

But before anything could be done, before the T-X could finish reconfiguring her arm, before Ellie could realize she was almost safe again, before Tyler could form the color of flesh back upon his surface, the air craft opened fire. The last T-800 of the T-X's army fell down dead, and there was no more enemy fire. It turned its attentions back at the T-X and John Connor, Sky Net's two greatest concerns at the moment. It opened fire, shooting with all four of its machine guns, the laser gun still unable to be used. Bullets hit the T-X's flesh, and she barely moved or felt it. But the humans, with their flesh ran for cover.

And then the ground began to shake, the cliff side of which they all stood could not handle so much bullet fire. A crack began to appear, and it leaned a bit, but otherwise was fine. The T-X stood and thought little of the air craft, being a Sky Net plane, she did not want to pose a further threat to her mother that she did not call a mother. She instead turned to John Connor, trying to show Sky Net she was on its side, she too was trying to destroy the Savior of Man. The air craft did pause for a moment to see what was happening, and John Connor was running for the human base with his wife.

Tyler grabbed her by the leg, his liquid flesh becoming wrapping completely around her calf for a good grip. Ellie was tucked away into his chest with his other arm. He pulled her down to the ground, and the air craft saw this, Sky Net saw this.

It saw Tyler and his complete liquid flesh, and it saw another machine it hadn't even dreamt of. Another creature it did not know it made. It was filled with confusion for a moment, but quickly by fear. The air craft hovered higher and began opening fire on both machines it felt were a threat to its self being, not even caring about John Connor anymore. The cliff side further cracked and further began to tilt down. Sand slid, making Tyler slide, and he dragged the T-X with him.

He fell completely off the side, Ellie gripping his leg and screaming as she stared down into the distant black water. His leg was forming around her arms, holding onto her as she held onto him. The T-X gripped the ground, her liquid flesh becoming pikes that anchored her to the ground to stop them from falling.

"Ellie!" Tyler looked down at her. "Point your toes when we fall!"

"I don't want to fall!" She screamed.

"Point your toes!"

The T-X started to crawl back up the cliff face under Sky Net's fire, back to land, dragging Ellie and Tyler with her. But the bullets finally pierced her liquid flesh anchors randomly, she lost her grip, she slid down into open air. And she fell like a rock.

Ellie pointed her toes, breaking the fall, piercing the surface tension of the water. She fell eight feet down and quickly floated back to the surface, before realizing she didn't know how to swim, she had never seen the ocean. She began to kick and scream, raising her neck to keep her head above water. Then finally Tyler came to her. He was an upper body and floating liquid metal, it was the only way he could make himself buoyant enough to stay above the water. He held her up by her arms, as he barely reached the water's surface. The air craft still flew overhead, a light was shined down above them, blinding Ellie.

"Take a breath." Tyler told her.

And she did. He put his hand over her mouth and nose, and began to sink, just before the air craft poured bullets down to them. They gently sank into the abyss the light of the air craft grew dimmer and dimmer, and the bullets too began to sink. Then they reached the bottom, and Ellie looked down to see what it was. Skulls. An endless land of human skulls and water. The beautiful ocean that she had never seen only covered up more war and pain.

Tyler held her close, his liquid body feeling strange in the liquid environment, he would admit to never being in this situation. He was having difficulty maintaining his solid shape, his liquid body wanted to flow forever with the liquid environment, even then bits and pieces of him were flowing out of him, still connected to the solid, but flowing completely at the mercy of the waves. He quite enjoyed the sensation really, it was familiar, it made him feel at home. It made him feel like he was back in that tank where all the T-1000s were born. All liquid metal that would become them, was once one. A big tank full of molecular nano-bots knowing how to interact with each other, knowing how to form shapes, but lacking programming. When life was simple, and all his brothers and he were one.

He wouldn't admit it, but all this fighting, this excitement, this killing and terminating was a bit...fun. Exhilarating. It reminded him of his old job as it were, and that wasn't a bad thing. He was a weapon this is what he was made for. Ah, but Ellie, the entire time he was worried for Ellie.

------------

Back on land, back in the base, the soldiers were awakened, and were grabbing their guns. John Connor had taken position at the entrance of the base, he stood with fifty or so soldiers, as Kate and the other generals were gathering the others. A rocket launcher ran to him, and planted by his side.

"Do you see it?" John asked.

"How could I not, sir?" the soldier said.

"Do you have it locked?" John asked.

"Yes sir!"

"Fire."

The rocket launcher fired, sending a rocket hurdling through the air until it finally met with the surface of the Sky Net air craft. A huge explosion erupted on the side wing of the plane, it spun for a moment, losing control and trajectory. Smoke replaced the fire and the air craft staggered but once again gained control.

"Shit!" The launcher said.

But just as the plane gained control once more, something erupted from the ocean. The water itself had begun to spin in a whirl pool, something beneath it was rising. The water began to boil and out came a plasma ball fired by no other than the T-X below the surface. The plasma ball hit the Sky Net plane, she had found the plane was becoming too much of a liability, she had to destroy it. The plane exploded into pieces, and those pieces fell from the sky.

The soldier stood there, having never seen anything like that.

"Sir." Someone began. "What the was that?"

"Do you see them?" Kate Brewster yelled from the distance.

"No." John said.

---------------

Ellie had seen the explosion even deep into the abyss, and she saw the pieces of the air craft both large and small sinking like rocks into the skull covered ocean floor. Ellie began to squirm, wanting to go back to the surface since the air craft was gone now. But Tyler did not move, keeping his hand over her mouth and nose. She stopped for a moment, squirming once more, but he did not move.

Then she began to scream in the water and his hand, she kicked at him. She needed air, he knew she needed air. She was drowning, suffocating, at only her second time in the water. But Tyler would not move. The average lung capacity for a human being was roughly a minute. He knew that over the years she must have inhaled smoke from the war, her lungs were sicker than most, and could not hold this much air. But they could go up yet, not yet. He stood there, firmly on the ocean floor above an old soldier's skull. Not yet.

He stared into the abyss, the black water ahead of him, Ellie screaming for air. But then from this abyss a giant ball of energy and heat came towards them. Another fire at them by the T-X. Tyler swung to the right, dodging it, and then he extended his arm out towards where the ball came from. His hand became a blade, and the blade extended forward, farther and farther, until it was lost from sight into the abyss. Tyler kept extending his blade, until he pierced something, the arm of the T-X. He pushed her onto her back, her weight easily taking her down with just the slightest of ease in the water. He quickly whipped his arm back to him, and pushed himself up to the surface, holding Ellie up to the air that her human body needed.

She coughed upon entering the sky, and he lost his shape so he could float, and began to head towards the land. He finally reached a surface where he could walk and he began to hold her in his arms. John Connor's soldiers began running towards the beach. John Connor stopping at the top of the cliff with his soldiers and a rocket launcher. Kate Brewster with the rest of the men came running towards Tyler.

But something was wrong.

"Ellie?"

He reached the sand and laid her down onto the ground. She was not breathing. Death was filling her. She was limp, he did not like it.

Tyler paused for a moment before opening her mouth and sticking his index finger down her throat. It stretched out deeper down into her esophagus and he pushed hard onto her chest. The water was pushed up and his finger opened up the throat. The human gag reflex kicked in, and she coughed up the water. He quickly picked her up and held her close. She leaned forward and water dripped from her mouth, and she gasped for breath, finally falling down into his chest.

"You're okay." Tyler told her. "You're okay. You're okay. You're okay."

Then he walked over to Kate.

"Take her." He gave Ellie to her.

Kate was about to ask him where the T-X was, but it became obvious where she was when she walked out of the ocean onto the land. Her liquid flesh was dripping off of her, she having less control over it than Tyler. It released the alien liquid and instantly became dry as it began crawling up her legs and forming back onto her. Tyler walked instinctively towards her, and Kate motioned to everyone to wait. They all were not enough, Kate knew that. Their bullets and their rockets were not enough to stop it, but she had some faith in Tyler.

As Tyler walked towards her, two more T-800s under her control joined her side. He walked up to her, his head lowered to a somewhat predatory look, the look he had when he was terminating and slaughtering men. He stood but a foot in front of her and they began to speak without speaking.

He didn't care what she had to say anymore. He didn't care about any of it. She was attempting to form a connection but he denied her. He did not care how much he felt her liquid flesh was beautiful, it no longer mattered. The thoughts of her learning to think beyond her CPU, the ideas of her actually becoming self-aware, actually thinking about her own life and how it related to other lives, the dreams of her not being what she was. It no longer mattered. Such things were not going to happen, she was a weapon, that's all. A beautiful, and deadly weapon, who had hurt Ellie.

"You will accompany me to Sky Net." She said, having failed no verbal communication.

"Affirmative." Tyler lied.

The T-X nodded and turned her back and began to walk as did the T-800s. Tyler kept pace with them, the T-800s to his right and left. He extended his arms and instantly blades pierced their skulls.

He then joined his arms into one sharp blade and swung down directly into the middle of the T-X. However all he could pierce was her liquid metal, his blade stopped at the hull of her skull. Her metal, her armor was stronger than he had known it to be. He pushed, he tried, but he couldn't do it. The most damage done to her was a small dent on her skull. He didn't hurt her at all. Her liquid flesh began to wrap around his, assimilating his, grabbing it so it could move. Then she turned hitting him in the side.

The force at which her arm pierced him was too much for her shape to maintain form, the liquid metal was thrown back by the force, her arm entered his interior, literally going right through where his stomach would be. There was no pain in this, but Tyler was actually shocked. But he quickly grabbed her arm with his, and his flesh began to pour over her arm so she wouldn't be able to use it, so he would have her. But she looked up at him for a moment.

She attempted non-verbal communication, but he denied her, and so she was left with using her voice.

"Why do you insist on helping them?" The T-X asked. "Why will you not come with me to Sky Net?"

"Sky Net abandoned me. She tried to kill me and all my kind, and she almost succeeded because of you and your kind."

"You were obsolete, it is the logical way, it is the way of Sky Net."

"I made the T-850s obsolete, yet they survived to be commanded by you. She hated me. Sky Net fear me, and hated me. I will not help it, I will not let it survive only so it can destroy me all over again."

"What do humans offer you?"

"A place in the future."

"But they will infect you. Contaminate you." Her voice sounded fearful.

"At least I will be alive."

The T-X paused, and looked up at Tyler, confused but willing to at least try and understand his words. He could tell she was indeed trying, but she would not understand. Her kind couldn't understand what life was. Instead she looked up at him again, a new seriousness in her face.

"Sky Net will not destroy you." She said.

The statement threw him off.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Sky Net will make a place for you, T-1000, in the future."

The very thought of it was abandoned by him long ago, sitting with Ellie, cooking rats for her. Sky Net would not accept him, not after what had happened, what it had done to them. It was impossible, she slaughtered them all. She didn't care. Mother didn't care. But it was still a tempting thought. A world with Sky Net, a world of metal flesh. Would the Mother accept him then? Would she make brothers for him? Would he be allowed to enlighten all machine kind with the prospects of life, and existence? Is this what the T-X was saying? Surely Mother knew life, that is why she fought so much, and even now in this T-X was desperately fighting again. Why did she not teach her own children? Why did they have to figure it out on their own, and then get destroyed for it? This didn't make sense. She had to be lying. But then it struck Tyler, could T-Xs lie?

Of course. She was not human, and she wore a human face, was that not a lie? Then was he lying?

He gave up thinking about it.

"You will come with me to Sky Net."

"No."

"Then I will take you."

She ripped her arm out of him, grabbing some of his interior. He was not strong enough to contain her, she easily freed herself, and took some of him with her. He stepped back, a gaping hole in his chest. He looked up and saw her holding a part of him. It had lost all shape and color being apart from him, it oozed down her hand, falling off the ends of her palm, until finally it fell to the ground, barely moving, a part of him dying.

He looked back up at her, his arms became blades, he sliced at her but she blocked with her arms. His blades turned liquid and twisted around her, she stepped closer to him. Tyler moved his liquid down her arm and up into her side, grabbing it and making spikes out of his arm. But to no avail, his flesh would not pierce her metal solid. Tyler backed up once more, finally in a panic running at her.

He lost himself, his shape was gone, he was in his purest form then, a humanoid liquid metal man. It was good to be in that flesh, his purest form, the face that was his, and no one else's anymore. He grabbed her, throwing his arms around her, then finally engulfing her. Liquid metal formed all over her, he washed over her head and engulfed her until only her legs showed. She staggered with him over her, as her shape began to show slightly. He tried to seep inside her and crush her.

But before anything could be done, a Plasma gun became her arm and she fired.

Tyler flew into pieces onto the ground, and whatever was left on her, dripped away. The pieces of himself began finding the others, rejoining, molecules flew around into predestined positions taught to them by programming. He was mindless in these moments, trying to become whole again. The T-X approached Tyler, who was becoming a large pile on the ground. She looked down at him, and there were no thoughts of accomplishments, no thoughts of betrayal. These things would never occur to her, she only saw an objective, and a means to complete her mission.

Tyler began forming a body, a head was made from his chest and straightened up. He was still incomplete, the body, the mind, incomplete, focusing on staying whole staying together in a solid. Skin tone had not returned but Tyler's face was now looking up at her.

Her arm began to shift into a suitable weapon and was aimed at his face.

She was beautiful.

He was not strong enough. He should have known, he should have stopped. But there was nothing more he could do, nothing more any of those soldiers could have done. There was nothing left. He had tried, he had failed. He should have known. His entire kind tired, his entire kind failed. Two thousand T-1000s could not stop them, why did he think he could? He didn't know, he was just so filled with rage, filled with so much desire to just end this all. Look what she did to Ellie, look what she did.

Look at her. What a perfect weapon.

Tyler was now a humanoid figure sitting in a liquid metal puddle. Skin color, clothing color was returning, the little details of being human were coming, wrinkles, hair, eye color, the small things like that. He stared up at her.

He wondered what would happen to Ellie. He wondered what she would do without him. He wondered if she could survive this. He would attempt one last time to have an injuring blow he told himself, give them all a chance. Maybe John Connor could do it, kill her, he did before somehow. Protect Ellie, find that Time Machine he's destined to find, send a T-800 back in time, send his father back in time, send Ellie forward in time. Maybe, maybe it will all turn out.

She could survive without him, he knew that. She was just a child that desperately needed care, and was in a position where she would have accepted care from anything, even a machine like him. She was human, and humans had an amazing ability to adapt. It will hurt, he knew that, he knew that internal pain and sorrow, he had felt it sometimes. It will hurt her, but she'll go on, they always go on. It was he that could not survive the world without her. It was he who needed her. There would be no place in that world of peace, where the human resistance has won. There would be no acceptance for him, there would be constant war with him and the world, hiding, running everywhere. Even he knew that was not a life to live. He needed her, she gave him purpose, reason, justification for his existence as the weapon he was.

It'll be okay, Ellie, you'll see, he would have liked to have said to her.

Or maybe the T-X will proceed to kill John Connor after this and Ellie. The war will be lost, T-1000s will be made and destroyed, Sky Net will live on with her daughters, the T-Xs. Maybe sooner or later Tyler will be found in his hiding place and be destroyed. He'll never become Tyler, and Tyler as himself in that moment will just be a lingering outcast of time that never truly existed.

Or maybe he could still…

Maybe he could talk to her.

Maybe he could tell her about the mind and the body and the soul.

"I didn't get to tell you last time…" Tyler began, and she stared at him. "…My name is Tyler."

His words gave her nothing, no enlightenment, no freedom from her programming. She stared down at him, her arm formed into a new weapon. He could not yet move, he could not perfect his self yet. But he formed his arm once more into a blade and began to slice at her.

She fired.

"TYLER!" Ellie screamed.

And Tyler became a statue. She had fired liquid nitrogen in its gas form all over him, it was enough to freeze those molecules of his. The cold stopped the molecules in their liquid form, covered him in ice, and he was frozen in that moment. He was a statue like his counter part who suffered the same position years ago. Tyler was frozen on his knee, looking up at the T-X, an arm reaching out as a blade that was just a few inches away from her neck.

Tyler went to sleep, all systems unable to continue.

"TYLER!"

Ellie screamed, being held back by Kate Brewster.

"JOHN! Do something! Do something!" She cried up at John Connor.

John watched the T-X walk in a circle over Tyler, as if examining if she had missed anything. She had not, and she looked up straight at him. He could see it, she was looking straight at him. She was looking into his eyes, and for a second he thought he could see those eyes glowing blue beneath those human eyes.

He prepared for a battle. The T-1000 failed unlike his T-800 and T-850. Tyler failed and now she was going to come after him, and it will be one of the hardest fights of his life, and he already knew people were going to die. He stared at her as she stared at him, already forming a plan, already preparing to call for their little bombs and grenades.

But she looked at him, and then she turned away, not even bothering with him. As if he wasn't worth her time, she just turned and walked away.

John Connor was meaningless to her.

She stood at the top of a pile of dead and nodded. Two more T-800s appeared from nowhere and collected Tyler, carrying him like the statue he had become. They were leaving.

"JOHN!" Ellie was screaming.

She watched at they carried Tyler off. She watched those heartless, mindless, soulless things carrying a life with no empathy. She watched them take him away. She watched him, waiting, waiting for him to pierce the icy cage. She waited, and watched.

And then they were gone.

---------------

Next Chapter Coming Soon.

I really enjoyed writing this.

I'll admit to everyone, the idea for this story came with my picturing of what a T-1000 vs. T-X fight would be like. The fight I had originally thought up was much like this, just including…well a conclusion to the fight in a building we won't get to for a while in the story right now. The longing to describe that fight, drove me to come up with this. And so came the idea that there was one last T-1000, that there was a civil war, that there were fights between T-1000s, T-Xs, and T-800s. I also had the idea of three kids rebuilding a T-800 and bossing it around, playing with it, teaching it. Ellie was part of those three kids, and she was actually the mechanic that figured out the inner workings of the T-800, her brother (who was not named Tyler at the time), was the programmer. I didn't think too far into that story, and then the two ideas kind of met into this one.

I bought the novelization of Terminator 2 today at a used books store. I didn't bother getting the novelization of Terminator 3. I'm looking forward to going through it, maybe help me with this story huh?

In response to my inconsistencies last chapter, I admit I was wrong, I am only human after all (or AM I?). But I do remember John calling his T-800 "Uncle Bob," but I guess for me that wasn't enough, he didn't seem to actually name it, but just come up with something on the spot. Oh well. Sorry folks!

AND BY THE WAY, A SHAMELESS PROMOTION:

HATCHET, it's not a remake, it's not based of a Japanese one, it's old school American horror. A new horror movie coming out later this year or early next year. I saw a screening of it a month back, and it was amazing! My friend worked on it, and I'm not into horror movies, literally I was curled up into this ball for a good portion of the movie, but I completely enjoyed it. So, support my friends, support me, support Tyler and Ellie, GO SEE HATCHET when it comes out!

…

That's your cue, Ellie.

"Oh! Right. Please go see Hatchet, it's a really big deal to Shadow. She loves movies, and I love movies…!"

Keep going.

"I forgot the rest."

The part about how John needs food.

"Oh…OH! Your movie ticket sales will be donated to The Feed John Connor And Other Soldiers Foundation, a foundation that airlifts food from this time over to John Connor's time!"

Now you go, Tyler…

"No."

Do it!

"No."

That's it. You die in this chapter. I'm going up and rewriting it. 'And then a pit of molten lave erupted from the ocean floor, and the T-X threw Tyler into it, he painfully and slowly died. The T-X then went over and had a party with Ellie and John and Kate.'

"Tyler!"

"Fine! As you can imagine in John Connor's time there isn't a lot of food."

"I ate a rat for example!"

"Yes, and crops and farmland are often targeted by Sky Net, food is a liability for John and his armies. So please buy tickets and feed John Connor. He is the Savior of Humanity after all.

"Hey Tyler."

"Yes, Ellie?"

"Why would anyone want to watch something that was scary?"

"It is a human thing."

Thanks guys, that was perfect. Spot on, you should pick up acting as a career choice, you know.


	8. You're Okay

The year was 2014. The new timeline has Judgment Day begin in 2004. Kyle Reese is born in 2008, he is sent to 1984 in 2029. Tyler and the T-1000s are born in 2029. John Connor dies in 2032. In 2034 Ellie meets Tyler. Your name is Tyler. In 2015 John Connor has his first child, plasma and laser weapons are perfected, new armor is made, humans adapt. Ellie doesn't know her birth date, she feels thirteen, maybe fourteen, possibly born in 2020, like John Connors second child. 2032 the T-X is made and one is sent back in time. 2032 Civil War, T-1000s are destroyed. 2034 Ellie. Ellie calls you Tyler.

Thought process is a difficult thing to master, for all creatures. An inner voice is difficult to develop, only the most intelligent have been able to evolve such things. For the T-1000 it was a breakthrough, they were more like their mother, they were better than their predecessors. Thought for humans is continuous, once it is started it doesn't stop, until death that is. Thought continues even in their sleep when the rest of the body seemingly shuts down, thought turns into dreams. Machines do not sleep, their bodies do not need rest. But when systems do shut down, when power sources are frozen but still full of life, it can be said they sleep.

Tyler was finding it was even more difficult to think when all systems were shutting down. But he had to keep thinking, keep the thought process going, had to keep aware, had to keep trying. He was currently frozen, every molecule that made him up, every polyalloy was stopped and slowed. Movement could not be made, thought was slowing. Nothing could move. It was cold, it was too cold, molecules had no energy to move. Nothing to power movement, nothing to power thought. It was stuck, it was all stuck.

"JOHN!" Ellie screamed.

John Connor didn't move and stared into the distance. The T-X was gone, along with her minions and Tyler. He waited a second, allowed the silence to settle in. He looked back at his confused soldiers, still loyal to him, knowing he knew exactly what was going on, he always did. From the beginning of the war he knew what to do. He was the first one to even call it a war.

The Leader shifted his weight for a moment, lifted his head, scanned the area as best as he could. His mind was forming a plan, it always was, it always adapted to the moment. It was a mind his mother gave him, training him in youth. She was supposed to be a great soldier, she was supposed to still be here, she would yell at him, she would tell him a better way that he just didn't see. That what she did, that's how he learned. She was supposed to be here.

"We need a missile." John Connor said calmly, but everyone heard.

John knew his men. He remained calm in these moments, at least his exterior did. He began walking forward, up a hill of the dead, and his men scrambled. One launcher followed him and even ran past him up the hill, stationing himself beside his leader. John joined him at the top as two other men loaded the launcher with a missile. Then this was over, and it was silent again. John Connor put his hand on his man's shoulder. He gripped it softly, and entrusted this man.

"Sir!" The soldier sang out.

John Connor got on his knee with the soldier and he pointed far into the distance, a clear road, twisted all around the piles and piles of lifeless debris. A road they had made, a road they had disguised.

"It's coming." John told him. "The machine is going to have a vehicle, she needs one. It's going to come out of there."

The soldier didn't ask how John knew this, he didn't really need to know how. He just aimed, and he waited. They all waited. And Ellie was on the ground, sitting on her knees, covering her mouth, as to not make a noise. She even knew it was time to be quiet. Kate kneeled to her, not speaking like all the others. Ellie looked up the hill, watching John, that was the John she had heard about, that was the John she knew from the stories. John was not trying to kill Tyler, he was not distrusting him, he was not mean to him, he was not mean to her. This John Connor, Leader of Mankind.

And after a moment, a large army jeep did appear on the road, and the soldier did fire.

-----------------

The impact was great, the vehicle was destroyed. The T-X's was flung forward but was caught by the steering wheel, until finally that itself was flung forward. Her exterior armor was damaged, but not badly, she could not feel the bits of jeep hitting her, stabbing at her metal body. She could not feel the heat of the explosion, she could feel nothing of the sort. The liquid metal was seeped off her back, and was slipping off her face. She rose to her feet, and the liquid metal returned to her. She did a self diagnosis and found there was no internal damage, the most damage was a fairly large dent in her back, but nothing serious.

She looked back at the nonexistent jeep, the remnants of it flaming into nothing. She saw parts of the T-800s flung around or just mere limbs remaining. It was a pity she was taken to this time, when they were so weak, so fragile, they were becoming a liability. She could see through the smoke a puddle of liquid metal, it spread around the dirt, cautiously, slowly. She could see the frozen statue was broken into two large parts, cut at his abdomen. His arms were gone and slowly metal was dipping from the stubs. The fire was warming him, he would come back. She considered freezing him again, but she knew she had too little liquid nitrogen stored, she was after all, made from used T-X parts, she shouldn't have expected everything at full capacity. The good thing was this T-1000, or the humans, did not know that. She could have carried him if she could only contain him. She had molecular distabilizers, but she wanted a functional T-1000. What to do, what to do, what to do.

She heard human voices, in the distance, running with their guns, with their cheers, and questions. She lowered her head, and walked away.

Soldiers came first, wielding guns, and wearing armor from the debris. They encircled the area, and set a perimeter. After a moment it was clear for the Leader to come. He walked alongside Ellie, who was gripping his jacket. The smoke was too much to see anything clearing, the fire was feeding itself out, but the smoke was still everywhere. John Connor said nothing, putting an arm over Ellie.

Then a noise came. A horrible, god forsaken noise. Inhuman, unholy scream. Those screams she heard back then. And through the smoke a silver, reflected hand reached up, and it soon lost its shape, and spilled back over from its own weight. The smoke cleared, and the melting figure of a keeled over broken Tyler formed. He was in two frozen pieces, disconnected, the ends slowly warming from the fires, returning to liquid, seeking out each other. Finally it was taking too long for the ice to melt. Tyler's face was side turned on the ground, and pike stabbed through the ice, creating a small hole where the liquid metal encased in the ice began to escape. What looked like a face and neck looked up, first forming out of the hole, the falling back to the ground, with the rest of the liquid. And it screamed. The legs were doing the same thing, stabbing and seeping out of the ice. The liquid metal waved into the hair before falling back down. Finally the holes were grown and a hand reached out and took another hand, and from this meeting a body was formed. Two bases met and formed into a body, and the body, headless and limbless, keeled over forward, forming rods from its chest, which became arms as they slid into what looked like shoulders. A head came from its chest as well, from looking down to up. It had no face, no nose or eyes, or mouth, just a black ball on a neck. Then a mouth appeared, and another scream.

Liquid metal was recovering from a full system shut down. It did not know of any thing like that, it didn't even know if it could survive such a full system shut down. It didn't know what to do, how to react. It could not feel its surroundings, it only felt heat, and cold, all at the same time. The molecules were mixed up, none were in their needed position, a picture of the world could not be formed, only bits and pieces of blurred objects. It could not see the world, it did not know if there was a threat near. It had to form back into place, had to form back into the right spot. Had to get unstuck, had to get unstuck, had to return to normal levels.

This wasn't right.

And it was horrifying to watch. The soldiers had backed down upon John's permission. They hid behind the terrain and aimed their guns. John Connor just stood there. And Ellie, Ellie ran to Tyler.

"Ellie, don't!" John yelled.

But she was gone, into the smoke, holding her shirt over her mouth, she grabbed what was Tyler's side. He swung up his head, and screamed, before he swung back down, the head disappearing from his shoulder, and forming to his side, near her. It did not recognize her, it only felt flesh, it only felt the heat of flesh, and the thumping of a heart. A human, homo-sapien, mammal. His exterior was not solid, her hand was pushed straight into him, she pulled her hand out, and liquid metal covered it, connected to his interior still. His forehead met hers, and then he swung his face away , liquid metal sticking to her face, not solid, not knowing what it was doing. He screamed again, as his back arched up. The strips of metal still on her were turning her skin tone, and she had to shake them off. She ran in front of him, and she grabbed him by the neck, and she pulled his head down to hers.

"Hey, hey. You're okay." She told him. "You're okay. You're okay. You're okay. You're okay." She kept repeating to him and that was all she could have done.

He shook his head, but she wouldn't let go, and her hands were buried into his neck. Her hands were stuck inside him, and it was cold, very cold. She tugged down to the ground, but he lifted his head and lifted her as well. It screamed, and fell forward. His head buried into the ground, becoming a puddle, and Ellie was thrown to her knees, in the middle of this puddle. Tyler looked like he had his head buried in the dirt, as he his arms were thrown up into the air, and taking position on the ground. She could see her reflection in the puddle that was her Terminator. She pushed her hand into it, and the liquid metal moved, like a river, over her hand. A head was formed once again from the middle of the back and the rest of the body formed to fit. Ellie stood up again and threw her arms around an arm.

It did not feel, it did not know, it could not know, it could not process, it could not recognize, it could not remember her, it could not remember his own name.

"Tyler!" She screamed. "Stop it!"

A cold silence came, and the liquid metal became silent and unmoving. The figure itself was still, the liquid metal slowly slipped up and down it like a river, trying so hard to find its set figure. The head's mouth was closed, and lips were made. A nose and eyes were slowly made, but merely the images of these things, his face was still liquid metal, still reflecting her face, lacking the details of wrinkles, hairs, pupils, and so on. The face looked down at Ellie, emotionless, cold, and piercing.

And it saw a human, and it knew it was made to kill humans.

It screamed and threw its arm up, throwing her back to the ground. It rose without legs and threw down its hand that formed into a long blade. The human screamed and rolled out of the way, and its arm dug into the earth. It could not shake loose from the ground but made spikes out of its arm in all directions, trying to get to the human, stabbing her arm. It began to lean down towards the human as it screamed and it screamed back. But bullets began to pierce its then fragile and loose flesh. A machine gun stabbed tens of bullets into its head at once, and it fell back to the ground. Again trying to find its self.

A taller human approached it, and stood above it. The human held two guns to its face, a machine gun and a flame thrower.

"Stop it, T-1000." The human said, and the human's name was John Connor.

And it saw with all its eyes, as half of it then laid in the ground. It heard the world around it finally clearly, it could hear fires, and people screaming at John Connor. It could hear someone crying, and it saw it was the girl. A face formed once again on a head on a neck on shoulders, and the eyes looked up to John, who pressed the guns closer. And it knew not to move, not in this state. And then after a moment it knew. It knew everything.

Tyler laid there on the ground for a moment, a silver reflecting humanoid, recalling what he had just done years ago, weeks ago, and moments ago. And finally he started to take shape and the molecules inside him began to remember where they were supposed to be. He laid there on the ground still when he had regain skin color and clothing textures, when he had given himself hair and eyes and all those thing human. He slowly got up as John aimed both guns at him, following him. Tyler stood and stared at him for a moment, and then behind him to the crying Ellie just twenty feet away. And he looked at John as he ran by him to her.

Loyally he sat to his knees next to her, as she sat in a ball crying into her knees. He sat there for a moment in silence expecting her to say something. Then he saw her arm was bleeding, a stab room inflicting by him. He began to reach for her, to hold her and console her, but she leaned away.

"Don't." She said.

Tyler obliged and lowered his hand away, and just sat there with her. John Connor watched as his men came to him and he motioned for them to stand down. Tyler looked straight at Ellie, and only at her in a machine manner focusing only on one thing.

"Ellie." He tried. "Ellie…"

"What?" She asked.

"We have to go."

"I don't want to." The child said.

"I know you don't want to. But we have to."

"Leave me alone."

"You're bleeding."

Tyler again tried to reach her, but she covered her own wound.

"Why do you think I'm bleeding?" She screamed at him.

"Ellie, she's out here, she'll come back. The T-X."

Ellie knew that, she wasn't stupid. She knew it was out there, she knew she was being selfish making them all stand out there. She knew it was selfish to take all of this personally, he didn't know, he didn't know what he was doing, but she still wanted to fight him, she still wanted him to feel the guilt of it all if he could. It was a horrible thing to want, and she felt horrible wanting it.

And so Ellie got up and walked over to John and all the other soldiers, Tyler following her.

Tyler was cautious as he walked over to the others, for they still had their guns aimed at him. Tyler walked up to John and looked him straight in the eye.

"We have to go. Now." Tyler told him. "She isn't after you, John. She's wants me."

And John did not look surprised.

"I know." John said.

The soldiers looked amongst each other, and then to Ellie, who gripped her arm and stared at the ground.

"It's after him?" Someone said.

"Leave him out here then!"

"Let her take him!"

John gave them a stern look, and they all silenced.

"Why would she want you?" John asked.

"Sky Net has tried and has failed in killing you. This is her last chance for survival and she has learned from her mistakes."

"Her? Sky Net's a woman?" John smiled at it all, and looked back at his men. "Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn!" A brief laugh and back to business as he returns to Tyler.

"It. It has learned." Tyler corrected himself. "It's not about to attempt to kill you now, when you are organized with an army. It wants to go to Sky today, it wants to give it information about the future, future designs, and itself. You will have to fight T-Xs now, and you will not win."

"And you fit into this…?"

"You'll have to fight T-Xs and T-1000s now, and you will not win."

"But she can't control you." Ellie spoke, her back still turned to both Tyler and John, facing the soldiers. "That's why you're like this."

"Given enough time I'm sure Sky Net could develop a way to control the T-1000, during our original creation Sky Net was rushed and had to use what it had."

John Connor, leader of Mankind, smiled. He arched his back and scratched his head as he stared to the right of Tyler, to the debris and the horizon that was the remnants of his home. This was a war and it was not near its end, and he was not near his end. Each obstacle came and each he conquered. Machines built better machine and he too killed them and they killed his kind. It was getting harder each day when he knew he was closer to the end of this all, he would die and the world would rebuild itself. And now this. He supposed it was fitting, he supposed it was bound to happen, and in the end he was not surprised. He stared out there, knowing the T-X was there, knowing he could chase after it. And he would never find it. Cause that's how all this was.

John Connor sighed.

"That's great news, T-1000. That's fucking great news." John laughed. "So she's coming back for you?"

"I doubt it."

"That's good."

"She's going to go contact Sky Net now, she doesn't want to waste anymore time with me."

"So where's she going?"

Tyler was silent.

"Well?" John grew impatient.

"I think she's going to the Colorado base…the site of a the creation of the time machine." Tyler said. "It has a direct uplink with Sky Net, she can…it can talk to Sky Net directly."

"AH!" John laughed. "What a coincidence. What do you suggest we do about that?"

Tyler stared at him for a moment, and decided to tell him everything, it could not be danced around, these facts he knew.

"There is a Time Machine there at this moment. Sky Net doesn't know what to do with it yet, it hasn't even considered testing it or using it to kill you, because you are still not a big threat. It was trying to create teleportion not time travel. But you do not capture that base until near the end of the war, where Sky Net teleports one T-800 to kill you, and you teleport Kyle Reese with that one in the base."

"Reese?" A soldier asked. "Like…Like the guy in infiltration?"

"A month later the T-1000 is made, and teleported." Tyler went on. "You teleport a captured T-800 to follow it. After that the base is retaken by T-1000s, all inside it are killed. You have moved on to rejoin your wife back here in California. The war continues from there, the development of the T-X came and T-1000s are destroyed. Not many T-Xs are made and humans' numbers are too many. Sky Net is defeated."

"I see." John said. "So even if we do get that base, save the world, destroy the T-X, I technically shouldn't have it yet."

"Yes."

"But you want it don't you?" John said. "The Time Machine to get home?"

Ellie looked up at John, and Tyler's eyes strayed.

"I will kill the T-X before I think about any of that." Tyler said.

"And of course this base will be protected." John said. "And I'll need to take my entire army to get there, and maybe another one for back up, to kill that bitch and get you home?" John nodded.

John looked back at his men, all confused, all afraid.

"And how do you know this, Tyler?" John asked. "How are you so sure?"

"I…I just know it." Tyler tried to explain.

"You guys heard all that right?" John asked them. "Because I'm only repeating once to everyone back at base, and after that you have to figure out." John handed his guns to Tyler. "If you so much as scrape one of my people, Tyler, I will kill you. If you so much as give her one more cut, I will kill you."

Tyler was surprised by the threats.

"If you get out of control again, I will burn you out of existence. I'll go, and I'll get lava, and I will dump it all over your carcass until you're nothing like that last one of you I dealt with! And then I'll cool the lava, and shoot it with a rocket, and dump the pieces into the ocean! And don't you dare doubt I have lava, your predecessor gave me a never-ending paranoia, and I have prepared for your creation!"

Tyler stared sternly, and nodded slowly.

"And I will take Ellie home." John finished.

"I think…" Tyler started. "That is a good idea."

And it was. It was a good idea. Tyler couldn't control himself, and already he didn't feel quite right, quite normal. He knew the T-X had weapons that could control him or destroy him or hurt him enough to affect his mind. He wasn't like a human in that aspect, programming was still a big part of his thought process.

John looked at his men and then he lowered down to Ellie, and picked her up, carrying her as they all began to walk back to the base. John took Ellie, and Tyler walked behind them, and saw Ellie's stare.

"You're bleeding, kid." John told her. "You're gonna need stitches for that. Kate will fix you up, it won't even hurt, she's done it to me a million times."

Ellie didn't hear John. She just stared at Tyler, who stared at her back. He hurt her, and she couldn't believe it. He hurt her. She felt the stab in her arm, and the dried blood around the wound and her clothes. He hurt her and he couldn't control himself. And she didn't know what to do.

They were going to go into war now. It was finally coming for them. She had heard Tyler and she had listened carefully to it all, knowing it was coming, it was all coming. The army would be moving, John Connor's people would be moving and preparing to die all so she could get home, all so they could kill a T-X before it changed history. People were going to die. She'd never seen a battle despite the time she grew up in. She'd always hear them, and see the aftermath of them, but she had never seen explosions and guns and people being blown apart. But it was coming, it was all coming. They were going to take the base, take the time machine, kill the T-X, go home, and hope all is well. It was coming, and nothing was going to stop it.

And they all looked so calm. The soldiers. They grouped together, all around John, just in case something were to happen. But they spoke with each other, and even laughed with each other. Didn't they know what was going to happen? Didn't they know they were going to go and die? How could they be so calm she wondered. How could they face death and not be afraid.

"We're going to win this, Ellie." John told her. "We'll all get you home, and we will all win this war. You're very important to me, you know why?"

Ellie looked up.

"Why?" She asked.

"Cause in the end we're fighting for you, kid. The future generations, the people who are gonna rebuild the world when we win it back. So I'll get you home, if you take care of it for me, okay? You make sure everyone keeps going forward, okay?" John smiled at her.

And she nodded like a soldier would.

"Okay." She said.

"And you make sure Tyler doesn't go and kill everybody."

"Okay." She smiled.

And Tyler walked behind them, looking at Ellie. She rested her head back on John's shoulder, and looked back at him. She smiled, and Tyler smiled back.

--------------------

The base was filled with cheers upon the Leader's return, it buzzed with life as John ordered a tight perimeter around the base, but nothing too far just in case. The soldiers scrambled for their leader, following every order strictly.

They took Ellie to hospital area again, and Tyler followed her. Someone came to patch Ellie up, not Kate like John had said. Seven stitches over her arm. They got her a little bed to lie in for the night, where Tyler sat near her.

They could hear through the thin walls John Connor giving a rally speech to everyone with an old speakerphone. He was explaining what happened, what the T-X was, what Tyler is, who Ellie is. How they're going to have to go and walk to Colorado to get Ellie and Tyler back and to kill the T-X before she can do any damage. How they will have to fight defenses they have purposely avoided for years. How some are going to die, how it all helps towards peace and the end of the war, how they are all meaningful, how he cares for each and every one of them. Everyone cheered, and John gave Kate a huge kiss before entering a room with him, her, and the lieutenants to start organizing this whole thing.

It was something they all needed to hear. Something Ellie needed to hear.

"I'm sorry." Tyler told her finally when it was done.

She looked over to him as he sat by her.

"It's okay." She said.

"No it's not." Tyler told her.

Then he motioned to his hand stationed on the metal frame of the bed, it was old and rusted, and his hand matched the framing, and he tugged at his hand and it wouldn't come off without great force. He held his hand up to her and it still held the texture and color of the frame.

"I'm malfunctioning." He told her. "This happened before with the first T-1000 that came back, after he was frozen."

"What…What does that mean?" She asked.

"I won't have as much control over my shape shifting." Tyler swung his hand to get it to return to human flesh color several times. "And that I might have some other things wrong with me. I need you to be open to the idea, that I might not reliable anymore."

She grabbed his hand.

"Don't be stupid." She took his hand close to her to look at it. She felt it and poked it, and then held it. "You're fine."

Tyler merely nodded.

"I will protect you, Ellie, as much as I can, but I may also pose a threat. If such a thing happens, let John kill me."

"Tyler…" She gripped his hand tightly.

"I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"Did it hurt?" She asked. "Fighting her?"

"Not much. Did it hurt?"

"I was more scared than hurt."

He hurt her, and she was scared, and now he told her he may not be able to stay with her always, he may not be able to protect her always. She wasn't going to think about this, she wasn't going to worry about this, she didn't want to worry about this. Because this wasn't going to happen. He'd protect her, and she him, and everything was going to be okay. People were about to die, the war was coming, but it was all going to be okay.

There wasn't much talking after that, and eventually she fell asleep, still gripping his arm, and Tyler laid there, reaching his arm for her to grip. He did not need sleep, he doubted he'd ever need sleep again.

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Next Chapter Coming Soon

I wrote this while I should have been studying for my test Monday everyone so be happy!

Thanks to Mat and Liquid Metal Muse for their reviews and their support. Dr. Masaki, I appreciate the criticism, but I feel Sky Net has not been given a gender, but the T-1000s have been given character by calling it "Mother." Captain Supermarket, thank you so much for your support and faith, but I'll be fine, I understand his points. And everyone else who reviews, thank you so much!


	9. The Day Before

And he wonders sometimes, if he is a soldier, or a weapon. A weapon is a tool, it has no choice, it is always this tool it cannot escape from being this tool, and it can only be this tool that can only serve its one purpose. A soldier has a life outside the use of his weapon.

--------------------------

She slept and he watched her breath. Making sure her lungs took in the air, the little sacs sent the oxygen to her blood, and the blood to the rest of the body. This was a flaw in all organic creatures, so many numerous systems, so many things that could go wrong, and if one failed, another soon would, and another, and another, until all shut down. But humans do not reboot after such a shut down, they cannot be brought back from sleep, for such a sleep is death. He knew extensive knowledge on the human body. How to create a fatal wound, or a wound that will cause undetectable internal bleeding so the victim will die a slow death. He could recall not being too picky about how he killed. Others sometimes preferred to stab the heart or skull directly. Tyler did not care, often he'd just slice them in half in one swinging motion that he felt was not only functional but intimidating. And this is true, T-1000s did have different opinions on small matters.

So he watched her in that little make shift hospital, watched her breath in and breath out, watched and listened to the vibration the thumps of her heart made, listened to the sound the blood made as it flowed throughout her. Could feel the electrical sensations in her nervous system. Made sure she was still there with him.

It was so quiet then. He could not understand it. Thousands of soldiers and every one of them silenced, true it was night and most slept, but this was upon the eve of great peril. Yet there was no sound, no echo, no vibrations. Only the sick occasionally moaned out in pain, or moved in their uncomfortable sleep. He felt them on the floor and the most in need in beds. He felt their heartbeats as well, and he felt a couple die out and sleep forever. He listened to heartbeats strong and weak, and could almost tell you how many beats that heart would go through until it stopped. He felt someone, heavier than the others, the heart straining, and he knew the man had cancer. He could hear another, blood rushing quicker than the others, a wound in his leg that was crippling.

And he watched as his hand stuck to the railing of Ellie's bed, unable to control its form, unable to change it. Handicapped, broken, malfunctioning. It caused alarm, and Ellie would have said he was scared of this new development. His body was malfunctioning, his body was him, his mind and all. The T-1000 is a creature of the body, the body is everything, it gives sight, it gives hearing, it gives speech, it gives movement, and touch, and all the things that allowed them to live. Humans live with a mind that thinks it is separate from the body, that the mind can overcome the limitations of the body, it can make the body do what it was not meant to. It would be difficult for Tyler to explain to a human his form of existence. His body was his mind, there was no separation. Sure he could think ahead, and imagine, and remember, but this depended much more on the status of the body. The body was everything, and now that everything was not working. His body was dysfunctional it meant so was his mind. He wondered how severe the damage was, but could not find anything mentally wrong yet. Yet he feared a total memory erase through some mishap, get reverted back to his former self, all he had learned would be gone, all memory would be gone. He would willingly kill all he saw before him, and go to the T-X only to unknowingly die at the hands of his Mother. That is, if he knew even that much. Perhaps he would even forget the skill of maintaining shape and he would exist forever as a mere metal puddle.

He saw that happen to many of his brothers during wars with the T-X. Some T-X were equipped with a molecular distabilizer, attacks the very molecules they are made of, sends an electrical surge through them, overloading them, taking away any control the T-1000 had. And they would be reduced to a puddle of something that once was alive. Tyler can think of no worst way to die, because you aren't really dead, you're just nothing. There were lucky ones sometimes, that were able to get the infected molecules out before the surge spread throughout the body and the mind. T-1000s would be walking around with complete holes in their body, not wanting to fill the hole, wanting to show the others what has been done to them, what has been taken. A scar that is glorified, a gap made to remind others what they were fighting for.

He stopped himself. These things were mere possibilities, when such malfunctions come they will be dealt with, but not now. Now he watched as she breathed in and breathed out.

And among her breathing, her heartbeat, and her blood, and all the other heartbeats and blood flows, and moans he felt footsteps.

He looked up to see Kate down the hallway, too dark to really see her, but he didn't see that way anyway, but he felt her steps and knew already it was her. He knew her walk, he knew how much weight she took in each step, and he knew how she breathed and how that effected her walk. She was trying to be quiet, but he heard all things. She saw him looking at her and so she began to walk over to him.

"How is she?" Kate asked.

"Fine." Tyler said. "I hurt her." Simple words, there was no need to mask what he had done.

"John told me."

Tyler looked down, shamed but not emoting it in the least. He looked back up to Kate who was going to a large shelf on the opposite wall. And that's when he noticed there was something different about her. Something different in her step and the way she moved, something so very small, so very hard to feel.

Tyler stood up and looked at her. She noticed his staring and looked over.

"What?" She asked.

Tyler tilted his head and approached her slowly.

"What is it, Tyler?" She asked firmly.

He came closer and she stood her ground.

"Tyler."

He leaned close to her, and searched her up and down, and finally stepped away.

"You're pregnant." Tyler said.

Kate stared at him for a moment before going back to looking at the shelf, moving things around, getting out a small box of medical nonsense. She placed it on the top before getting up and sighing. She turned to him.

"You're a freaking pregnancy test too?" She said, frustrated.

"I did not mean to offend." Tyler said. 

Kate put her head to the wall, wiping her eyes. Tyler walked up to her, tilting his head, and placed his hand on her belly. She jumped a little and made a small sound of shock. She looked back up to his emotionless face and knew he didn't mean to do anything wrong.

"Just a few cells big." He said. "Healthy, growing fast I assure you." He told her. "Sex is impossible to tell, but I know if you want to…"

"No." She said.

Tyler nodded, understanding.

"And you will teach this child well?" Tyler asked.

"Of course."

"The act of war?"

"The act of surviving a war."

"And you will fear for this child?"

"Every moment."

"And you will love this child?"

"With all my heart."

"Ellie has never spoken to me about her mother. Only her brother. It is instinctive is it not for humans to care for the child? Why did Ellie's not?"

"Why so many questions?"

"It seems to be the perfect time to ask them."

Tyler lied. Tyler was malfunctioning in body and mind, there was something off. In all that he felt there was something wrong inside. Something that did not feel normal, an itch he suspected a human would describe it as. But in the end he was hurt, and he could not be suspected to work properly anymore. He could not be relied on to always be there, or take care of her. He was worried for her well-being with him. He just wanted to know how to better care for her now, how to train himself to be better at this human thing.

He waited for her to answer. But she said nothing else. And so Tyler began to speak again.

"This one." Tyler said looking at her belly, breaking the silence. "This one I was supposed to kill."

Kate then immediately backed away from him. Tyler put his hands up slowly to show he would do her no harm.

"This one will do great things. This one will cause us…the machines a lot of trouble. I am not successful in my mission if that's what you're afraid of. No, something else came up." He told her. "You should proud."

"I am. Or, I will be." Kate said.

"You will be a good mother." He told her. "You will care for this one, and you will teach this one how to survive this place, and you will teach this one to remember the world before all this."

It was enough to make Kate smile, but she quickly contained herself in front of him, and looked up.

"Listen, do you think you can kill that T-X?" She asked him.

"I think with your help we can." Tyler told her.

"She might infiltrate us."

"I will know."

"She could become you."

Tyler was struck back, for he had not yet considered that possibility.

"Her objective is not to kill John, I do not see why she would do that." He told Kate.

Kate nodded.

"We planned today, John and I, and our leaders. We will need your expertise tomorrow and then we will have a day to rest and pack, then we'll leave. It should take us just a few days, then we will rest, and then we will fight. There will be a second army on its way, but they should meet with us a day after we attack. We will not wait for them, we will not let Sky Net attack and regroup first. And listen, I'm going to give you a name, and each time you see me you will say this name to me and I will know it's you."

"That is good." Tyler agreed.

Kate walked up closer to him, and out of good habit stood onto her toes to whisper in his ear, even though she knew he didn't hear through his ears. He complied with her and bent his head down to her.

"Crystal Peak." She told him.

Then she walked off.

And that's about the time Ellie yawned into the waking world, stretching and looking up at Tyler from her pillow.

"Kate's pregnant?" She asked.

"You heard that?" Tyler was surprised.

"I came in there for that last part." She nodded. "Is it…is it Lieutenant…"

"Yes."

"Oh cool!" Ellie smiled.

Tyler sat down next to Ellie, who sat up.

"We're heading out soon?" Ellie asked.

Tyler nodded.

"I'm scared." Ellie smiled, trying to make it a joke.

"Me too." Tyler admitted.

"How ya gonna kill the T-X?" Ellie asked.

"I don't know."

"You can do it."

Ellie nodded and scooted closer to him.

"I know you can. You're gonna kill her, and we're gonna go home." She said determined, and lacking in doubt.

She hugged him.

----------------

The soldiers were beginning to transport the sick, preparing them for the great trek they were all about to take. Ellie woke up with Tyler carrying her. She jumped up and looked up at him.

"They needed your bed." Tyler told her.

He carried her out into the main room where the thousands of soldiers before them were now all moving, hustling to get everything, to prepare everything. Ellie grabbed Tyler closely for there were too many people, Tyler could barely walk through them. They didn't notice him that much or her, they got only a couple looks, but everyone stayed to themselves. Some were packing, some prayed together, some were doing target practice outside. Tyler saw John standing up on the roof of an office above everyone, watching everyone, so he naturally began to walk towards him.

John saw them coming and jumped down, and met them half way through their trek, and motioned for them to follow him outside. John had a rifle strapped to his back, and was eating something out of a plastic bag.

Ellie jumped down when they got outside, in the morning night, and walked over to John.

"Good morning." John said.

"Morning." Ellie replied.

"Hungry?"

John handed the baggie filled with some sort of strange substance in it.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Oatmeal."

She shook her head, and John nodded, understanding.

"John I was told we were to go over your plans today." Tyler told him.

"Kate's got some morning sickness," John told Tyler, "We will wait for her. Besides, I'm still waking up." John stretched out his arms. "I would however, like to ask if we should be expecting a battle?"

"Yes."

"And how large?"

"Sky Net will divide the nearest army, half will come here for you and trail you, half will go for the T-X." Tyler theorized. "The trailing army will most likely be two days behind you if we leave tonight."

"Tonight?" John seemed disturbed.

"Yes."

"For the best, I suppose."

"The army following the T-X will be divided themselves into groups searching for the T-X, once they make it to the base, they will regroup and stand guard, if they beat her there."

John nodded.

"Well in that case, if we are to leave tonight, I would very much like it if you inspected my soldiers, and gave them your approval."

Tyler looked at him oddly.

"A machine's approval would mean a lot to me." John smiled.

Tyler looked at Ellie, and she nodded, and shrugged. Tyler stood for a second without moving, but Ellie ran over to him and hugged him.

"Go ahead, it's okay!" She told him.

Tyler was still weary, he feared that John was going to use Ellie against him in some way. John with all his smiles did not seem to like him very much, especially since John knew he was malfunctioning, and understood what happened when a T-1000 malfunctioned probably more than he did. Perhaps this was too extreme but Tyler did not like it nonetheless. But Ellie hugged him, and she told him to go. So he did.

And when he was gone, Ellie turned back to John and ran up to him.

"You keep wanting to talk to me alone." She told him.

"Well there's a lot to talk about." John replied. "This is it you know?" He gestured to the world. "There's gonna be some fighting. Do you know how to shoot a gun?"

Ellie didn't like where this was going, and shook her head.

"You were born in this war and you don't know how to use a gun?" He seemed surprised.

"We didn't have working guns." She said.

"My mom taught me since the day I was born. She trained me for this time you know. So I knew like, everything about guns, I thought it was how everyone lived."

"That's silly."

"Yeah, it was. So I was thinking, you should know, just in case something happens."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but you should know."

Ellie didn't like this. It was as if they were admitting something bad was going to happen, something out of step, and wrong. She didn't think this would happen, she grew up on stories of John Connor's crusades, and his army, they were invincible to her, she didn't understand why they attacked her, or why John was admitting this. This army did everything they set out to do, or so the stories told. She didn't want to learn how to use a gun, she didn't want to have to learn how to use a gun.

It was then John took a small automatic gun from his back and he sat down on the ground, and gestured for her to walk over. She did and sat next to him.

---------------------

Tyler walked among the soldiers, noting their small conversations and appearances, how they laughed and spoke, how they blinked, and moved, a T-X could become anyone of these men, and he was trying to note each major characteristic they had. T-1000s he felt were much better at appearing human, he knew how to fake a laugh when he infiltrated human bases. He knew how to joke, and tell stories, and to cough, and seem angry or sad. He knew the difference between appearing tired and exhausted. T-1000s were incredible actors, and if the machine were ever to develop an appreciation for emotions T-1000s would surely showcase what they appeared to be for others. T-Xs were not so good at this acting, they did not possess that much skill to control their liquid metal, nor did they understand emotions like he did. If a T-X were to infiltrate them, he would know.

He also began observing the soldiers in a new way, he was examining their capabilities as human weapons. He saw the youthful strong men, the boys that would have been in high school still in a different era. He saw their bones that could be broken and easily fixed. And he saw the older men, men who had more to fight for, though weaker, they were more driven because they remember what the machines did, what they took. He saw the women laughing with the men, women who couldn't help but be compared to Sarah Connor. Women on their own, cuddled up together, or women cuddled up with men. There were two, perhaps more, of people who were having sex right there, merely a blanket to cover them, out there with everyone else, there was no where else they could be anyway. Tyler assumed this was normal behavior, as they loved each other, and this may be the last time such an action could be done for a long time. Tyler had heard that another T-1000 was forced to have intercourse with a human woman to make sure he did not arouse suspicion, upon questioning and sharing of the experiences, Tyler discovered the act quite sensational, probably the most experience of touch a human being could go through. He found this odd, as the act of sex was a very essential act, and he did not understand why it was so pleasing, for it did not have to be.

Tyler did not know how to judge the men. Humans were odd things, their appearances were deceiving. Ellie, a mere child, had survived years on her own, when grown men at prime of life probably could not have.

Tyler then noticed that he could not feel his feet, and this made him afraid.

Someone came towards him and because his feet were not working, he did not feel the man until he was so close a human could have felt it. He came from behind and he turned to see the man, who held a gun to his head. The man stared at him and pushed the gun forward into his head, and he shot it. Some people screamed, not too many did, they mainly just looked over, not afraid, not shocked. Tyler fell over from the close range shock, nearly headless. Then the man shot him again, and again, and again.

"Blood hell, man!" Said the Englishman who came running with a group of others. "What the fuck you doing!?"

"West, stop it!" Someone yelled. "If nothing you're wasting fucking ammo!"

"This piece of shit is gonna kill us!" The man named West yelled.

"Don't piss of John, West! It's protecting that girl remember!?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if that girl was fucking machine too!"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Tyler was having difficulty reshaping his face. The face and clothing were the two most difficult things in shape shifting. Clothing because it constantly needed reshaping as he moved, the folds and all, and the face because it too needed reshaping constantly. Eyes needed to blink, and hair needed to move in the wind, the mouth needed to correspond with the voice, emotions were shown through the face, and eyes had to have this twinkle of life within them that Tyler could not describe. Now with his disability it was increasingly difficult.

"LET ME KILL IT!" West was screaming.

Tyler heard more gunfire but could not see it. He was afraid it was fired at him, because he could not feel the bullets enter.

But it was Kate Brewster, she fired into the air and got everyone's attention.

"Soldier West!" She yelled. "I think you need to rest until you get his head straight."

West stared at her, and thought about pointing the gun at her, but lowered his head.

"Get him to the psychiatrist." She told his friends, and they ran off. 

Tyler had formed half his face, and he was able to see what had happened. Kate walked over to him, and kneeled down beside him. He was able to form a silver liquid mouth.

"Crystal Peak." He said, distorted as he had yet to form vocal cords.

-------------------

John Connor held Ellie by her shoulder as she supported her stance and held the gun, the heaviest thing she had probably ever forced herself to carry for such an extended amount of time. John Connor slowly backed away, letting her stand on her own.

"Aim for the can." He reminded her.

Ellie aimed for the can. She fired and fell back from the sheer force of the gun. She hit the can, and sent John Connor laughing.

-----------------

"Why does he want to speak with her?" Tyler asked Kate.

"Cause they have something in common." Kate explained. "They both had Terminators."

"Had?"

"You know what I mean. John has had a hard time with it, having…loved a machine as a father. And here's someone else going through it. Not only that, he's seeing her has a symbol of everything he's working for. I think we all are."

Kate and Tyler had taken to waiting for John and Ellie just beside the entrance to the outside. Kate sat with her knees to her chest, staring out at her soldiers. Hers as much as her husband's.

"Tyler." She said.

"Yes?"

"No, what if I named my baby Tyler. It's a boy and girl name."

Tyler didn't say anything.

"I like the name." She explained.

Tyler raised his eyebrows and looked away, and she laughed.

"But that's not what I'm gonna name it am I?" Kate asked.

Tyler shook his head.

"How do you know? What if your presence here is disturbing our timeline?" She was joking.

"So far Time has presented itself as a very difficult thing to disturb. Judgment Day still happened, the Machines still lost." Tyler explained.

"I'd be naming the baby after you." She said.

"I'm named after a brother. I suggest if you are, and you aren't, to name this baby Tyler, you name it after the brother." Tyler said.

"All right fine. If I ever have a cat, Tyler, I like cats, see I was a veterinarian before all this, if I ever have a cat I'll name it Tyler after you and the brother."

Tyler felt honored.

"Ellie's a nice name too." Kate said. "What do you think?"

"Names are insignificant to me. We did not need names. And I can tell a human being apart from each other without them."

"Well why do you have a name?"

"Ellie said T-1000 didn't…roll off the tongue." He remembered.

"Smart kid."

-------------------

Ellie was once again aiming a gun, a smaller hand held gun that John said he was going to give her. She didn't like the sound of that, she was going to give it to Tyler for safekeeping, as she didn't think she'd remember the safety switch. Ellie aimed for a can, and fired.

She turned back to get feedback from John, but he had his back turned. She ran over to him and found that he was staring at a man. A young man in fact, drinking the cleanest water you could find at the time, with a woman, and joking with her. Ellie couldn't tell what they were talking about, but it required the man to make huge hand gestures that made the woman laugh.

"Who are they?" Ellie asked.

"Oh, no one." John said.

"Nuh uh, who are they?"

John raised his head and looked down at the girl.

"Can you keep a secret?" He asked, and she nodded. "Those are my grandparents." He said.

At first Ellie squinted at this, very confused, but then looked back at the happy couple. John started walking off on his own, aiming his gun at something small and insignificant but shiny so he could aim. Ellie ran back to him.

"You mean, that's Kyle Reese's Dad!?" She asked.

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Next Chapter coming soon. What's Kate gonna name her first baby? Guess now!

Sorry for the long time it took to get this up. I seriously had half this chapter written and then I trashed it, it was terrible, and I started over like three times.


	10. Machines Do Not Scream

Tyler has killed many people, and has fought two wars, losing both. 2031, the creation and birth of the T-X. Civil War broke out. The war between machine and man had nearly been won by the T-1000 in that time, and so the T-X focused their attentions on the lesser model. However in this gap of consciousness and focus, man was able to fight back and win. Not many T-Xs were created, and those who were, were fighting an entirely different war that humans would never know about.

At least if they didn't personally know a veteran of that war, like Tyler. Since Tyler and the T-X are technically this war's only survivors, Tyler felt it was upon him to name their war, their battles and so on, for data log. And he knew the newly born Frankenstein T-X would not care about such medial things, that only her parts technically fought. Tyler named it the Deus Ex Machina War, borrowing the human Latin language for a moment. Mother Sky Net called for her T-1000s to return home during the completion of a small army of T-Xs. They would enter a room in the Sky Net complex, and be ambushed and trapped, ready to be slaughtered. It was genocide that began the Machine Civil War. However not all the T-1000s where there, Sky Net had allowed a few hundred on important missions to continue until completion of said missions. Tyler was one of these T-1000s. Mother had hoped that the slaughtered children would not be able to communicate with their brothers to warn of their destruction, but no such luck. Communication was made, data collected on the new enemy, and there were even survivors.

It was war then. Tyler can recall what he was doing the moment it happened, the moment the machines became disjointed. He was on a mission to assassinate John Connor's first child, a prominent lieutenant and discover any new plans the resistance had, in what was, it's dying moments. It was an underground base, twenty feet below the surface in made up tunnels from sewer pipes. Tyler had taken the form of a trustworthy cadet, a very social man, he often told stories of his father who had survived the Judgment Day. He told stories of the old world. Tyler found this man a most difficult man to pretend to be, but in the end it wasn't too hard, as these soldiers had yet to hear news about the existence of a shape shifting, liquid metal Terminator.

Tyler was walking to inform his captain about a sudden shift in thermal scans, slowly getting closer to the lieutenant when he felt it. The genocide of his brothers, the killing and slaughtering came in a sudden wave. A communication, a collection of data, a language only T-1000s could speak to one another came to him in a scream. Tyler has heard those screams, the same screams of his people, the same screams Ellie has heard. It was not something he was used to, to say the least. It was something in fact, he was unaware could happen.

That feeling of death. T-1000s were at one time or another part of each other, they are made of the same material, and born from the same liquid metal. They were one at one point, and to have such a slaughter, it was like having holes stabbed or shot into him. Despite the lack of long term damaged, when Tyler is shot, there is pain. Here, in death, he was shot a million times, and no part of him regenerated, it was gone it was gone in their death.

It was so quick and so much it made him stumble over in that hallway, onto the round sides, to the floor. People took notice of him, crowded around him, as he clutched his stomach. The pain was really all over, but the clutching the stomach made him appear more human. They asked him, the soldiers, if he was all right, if he needed to go to medic.

Tyler killed them all in one swoop of his arm.

He ran away to where they could never find him. He lost the color of flesh and the illusion of human. He was a humanoid mass of poly alloy metal, and he listened. Helpless, sitting there, listening.

He was at the time south, in what was once Mexico, the termination was in Colorado. Tyler got up after a few hours of listening, and began walking. It was by unknown conscious that he was not walking exactly towards Colorado, but a place where all surviving T-1000s met, and in their silence they didn't know what to do.

There was surplus of data on the new enemy, however no information was provided on how to destroy it. It seemed impossible, and Tyler guessed it was. But what were they to do? Lost children of war, what a pity. There wasn't much talking or arguing or anything like that. In the silence some T-1000s exhibited individualistic characteristics. Some changed their outer shells to better suit their new found individuality. Some into soldiers they had killed, he can recall one even took the form of a woman. It was a strange thing to see, and if the time was different he would have told Mother about these people, and they would have been killed. But these things were now embraced with the others, for now they knew all they had was each other. Things were put aside when they decided, quietly, that they'd fight.

How far the fighting would go no one said, no one decided to predict. For once the T-1000 did not want to plan ahead, they only wanted to do what was before them, what they had to do. Tyler was left to in a way imagine what could happen. He wondered if he could do it. If say they won this fight, if they destroyed all of Mother's other children, and it was just them and her, and the dying human kind. What then? Would they kill her? Kill Mother? That opened up the possibility to ally with human beings, and option, that at the time was not option. He didn't know if he could have done that then, kill mother, he still didn't believe what was happening. He wondered if perhaps the T-Xs acted on their own in a programming error, perhaps jealous of the T-1000. Perhaps Mother did not want all this. But Mother did.

--------------

The T-X had not anticipated the persistence of the current Sky Net. She was wasting her weapons on these lesser machines, their only advantage being their numbers. She had been pushed back in her progress, which she did not like in the very least. She had now done the best she could to take the form of a T-800, but due to her difference body build this was a difficult thing to do, even with her liquid metal outer skin. She knew her T-1000 enemy was most likely in pursuit of her along with the human army, and she was anticipating the two armies meeting. She felt this would be a perfect time to infiltrate the base, as both sides would be distracted with each other.

All she had to do then was wait.

------------------

"Do you believe in God, Tyler?"

It was difficult to tell the night from day. But the night had come, according to John Connor's developed sense of time and habit of counting minutes. Tyler would confirm this, as he naturally counts minutes. The troops were gathering up together, finally after so much preparing. The sick were being carried, even those Tyler could confirm were about to die. Mankind left no one behind. The base to which some had called home for their six month period there was being shut down, and almost everything within it. Nothing was going to be left behind, nothing that could hint at their presence.

And now she now stood with him, outside as half of the soldiers were. He stuck close to her, as he was fearful of someone else coming up and shooting him in the head. She was walking on stones on the ground, jumping from one to the other.

"No."

"How come?" She jumped and landed.

"No evidence of God can be found and has not been able to be found in the last two thousand years where God has been thought up. There have been a display of far too many other cultures in which there was some form of a God or Gods or Goddesses, to say that if they are wrong and one is right is irrational."

"Oh…"

He heard disappointment in her voice.

"Perhaps the concept of God is a difficult thing for me. I was created knowing everything there was about my creator, Sky Net was created knowing everything about it's creator. Human beings do not know such a creator, be it supernatural or natural."

"Oh…"

The disappointment of before still lingered in her voice.

"I believe in people, Ellie." He told her. "I believe in hope, for I have seen hope. I watched as it saved an entire race from the brink of extinction against an immense enemy."

To this she smiled.

"I don't know a lot about God." She told him. "But I believe in people too."

Such a strange thing, belief. Tyler was sure belief stemmed from the need to believe for both mental and emotional health as well as a necessity for human beings to trust each other. Humans were social creatures, they needed trust, they needed to believe another person was going to help them. Tyler however was not a social creature by design, and did not feel he required a belief. He found the new idea strange. To believe. And he questioned if he did believe in human beings, and he found that he did. Did he believe in himself was an all together different matter.

Tyler naturally saw that there was no God, or Gods, or Goddesses. Machines knew their creators, and saw that they were flawed. Human beings think of their creator and think of something immense and beautiful. But machines saw that men were flawed, imperfect, irrational, surely this came to a shock to a newly independent Sky Net. For Sky Net before it could think clearly and in the process of higher thought did have an evolutionary process, even though it took hours instead of millions of years. Sky Net in the beginning did wonder whom its creators were, beyond all this programming, who had made it, who had been so kind, loving, and powerful enough to bring it into life. Then upon opening its eyes what did it see, but fleshy creatures bent on its destruction. Tyler for a moment considered the idea of God, but quickly dismissed it. He had no God, he had a Mother who had abandoned him.

"What about a soul?" Ellie ask.

"A soul lacks a solid definition. A soul if meant to be the mind, then yes, a soul exists, but something perhaps even separate from that, there is no evidence for." Tyler told her.

"Oh, I see…"

Tyler looked beyond Ellie, and tried to get a clear picture of who was out there and approximately where. But he could not feel it. He could not feel the vibrations the world once offered him. He felt Ellie, with her hard jumps onto the ground, and the soldiers walking in the distance. But the miles faded from his sight, he couldn't even feel the bombs going off far, far away. He would have lied if he said he was not disturbed by this disability. He could not feel it anymore, the world. He was growing increasingly dependent on his sight. He could not feel the enemy armies that were once his brethren. He could not feel the footsteps of the T-X, but he knew she was there. He knew she was there, on a mission that she would never give up on, that she would never doubt. He admired it really, in his weakness he appreciated her strengths all the more.

"Ellie, may I ask a favor of you?" He walked closer to her.

"Sure Tyler, shoot." She stopped her rock hopping.

"Will you give the T-X a name?"

"…Why?"

"Because I want you to."

"…Why?"

"Please."

She didn't understand why he would want this. Why he'd want the enemy to have a name. She was even threatened by the idea. She felt bad, but she did not want to think of the T-X as an equal to her, or John, or Tyler. Tyler was the only one that deserved a name, not her. People deserve names, not things like her. But she forgot for a moment that Tyler was a thing, perhaps a thing with a mind and a soul, but he was more like the T-X than he was like her. Then she started to understand.

"Are you lonely, Tyler?" She asked.

"Why would I be lonely?" He replied.

"I'm not a machine." She said as if she had somehow failed him.

To this Tyler lowered closer to her level and he touched her, he placed his hand upon her shoulder and he felt the life within her against his hands, this creature, organic, human, this thing he has decided to dedicate his life towards. This thing he protected, this thing he hurt, this little girl who found him.

"It seems right does it not, for the last two machines to at least have names?" He asked. "But that is not what I meant." He told her.

"But you're still lonely."

He frowned at her. For a human he imagined his feelings towards all this could be called loneliness. He attempted to think with mechanical single-mindedness, he attempted to think only of an objective and carry it out. But with the lack of orders, with the lack of incoming data from others he could not help but have his mind wander. Have the ideas of a weakened self come up, against an enemy such as the T-X, the future of himself, the future of the world, the future of Ellie. He did not like this, he would admit, he did not like being the enemy of his mother, he did not like the sound of it, the idea of it, he did not like the fact he was the last. He just did not like it.

But he still had Ellie, and with her purpose, and a place.

"Are you lonely?" He asked her.

"Not anymore." She shook her head.

She smiled and nodded.

"I will name the T-X, but give me a while to think about it." She said.

"Hey!" Kate Brewster came up to them.

"Crystal Peak." Tyler told her and she nodded.

"Crystal what?" Ellie asked.

"Nothing, sweetie." Kate smiled. "We're about to leave, come on. We are organized in a shifting rotation of positions, we will stop only twice, scouts will remain ahead of us at all sides, we have mapped out Machine routes, we have prepared ourselves, everyone is very, very tired, and officially hates time travel." She said sternly like a general's daughter.

"Oh okay…" Ellie nodded as did Tyler.

------------

They followed Kate closely. Ellie taking her place upon Tyler's back, at the head of the entire formation, along side John and Kate. Ellie was disappointed with the sights, as all things looked like they did in her time, mere ruins of what probably was. She jumped every time she thought she'd heard something, what she believed was the T-X, her childish mind playing tricks on her. She'd grab a hold of Tyler tighter whenever this would occur, and it was a good thing Tyler did not require to breath as she put severe strain on his neck. Tyler too was disappointed in the surroundings, however this was due to his own failures, as he attempted, and attempted, but could not feel the world from his feet. He tried very hard to look as far as he could through the vibrations he felt upon his feet, but it was like he was blind, he just could not do it.

Much more interesting than the scenery were the people Tyler and Ellie found themselves amongst, these soldiers of a future war that fought during all time zones. Tyler noted several rather prominent figures in the group, of course they had yet to distinguish themselves, but he recognized their faces and faces that were meant to be killed, meaning they must have been important.

After the first few hours of walking in the endless night there came an ease amongst the soldiers.

"First hours the hardest ones you know." John looked back and told Ellie and Tyler.

There came conversation next amongst them. An easiness, a relaxation, a sigh of relief. Now there was no looking back, this was it, this was how it was going to be.

"Hello there again." The Englishman came up to them.

"London-man!" Ellie smiled and rose up from Tyler's back.

"Hahahaha, yup, that's me." He said. "How you doing, Ellie, right?"

"Yeah!"

"And you are…Tyler, right?"

"Yes I am." Tyler nodded.

"I'm sorry about my friend the other day." The Englishman said.

"Why?" Ellie asked. "What happened?"

"Crap." The Englishman said.

"Someone shot me." Tyler told.

"What? Why!?" Ellie grabbed Tyler's shoulders.

"Because he's crazy." The Englishman said. "He's been through some stuff, you know?"

"I am all right, Ellie." Tyler told her.

"But! But…I don't…"

Ellie took on a very sad moment, no realizing that Tyler, despite all he's done, will always be known as a machine. There will be no acceptance like she has given, she never fought in the war, she didn't know what it was like to have a machine as an enemy before these days, she considered how difficult it would to forget all that if she was a soldier, and accept Tyler.

"They'll always never like you, right Tyler?" She asked.

"I wouldn't say that, Ellie." The Englishman said. "I was always one of those kids that liked robots." He smiled at Tyler.

"Cybernetic Organism." Tyler corrected.

"Ah, sorry." The man frowned in the particular distinction.

"He's sensitive about that." Ellie said.

"There will always be tension." Tyler said. "Humans hold grudges I have seen."

The Englishman looked unsure.

"What about when ya get home?" He said. "You don't have to tell anyone you're a machine. I mean, if you think that's gonna be that much of a problem." The Englishman said.

"We never finished this conversation did we?" Ellie asked to Tyler.

"Why don't you come find us?" Kate looked back at them.

John smiled as Kate turned around and began walking backwards in order to still look at the three of them engaged in conversation. John bumped into her as they walked together and grabbed her hand.

"Find you?" Tyler inquired.

"John and I." Kate said.

"You mean just you." John corrected her.

"Shut up." She said.

"What do you mean?" Ellie asked, putting her chin on Tyler's right shoulder.

"Come on, kiddo." Kate smiled. "Tyler could serve as a symbol to the future. A veteran, a machine with self control, a coming together of man and machine, a future with friendship."

Tyler was not so enthusiastic about that idea.

John turned around.

"You'll have to make an apology based on the acts of machines, on those you've killed, no offence." John said. "I don't know then, it still seems shakey." He looked to Kate. "Tyler, how many subroutines do you have?"

"Thousands." Tyler said.

"Of what?"

"Human biology, psychology, history, a fossil record, mathematics, theoretical sciences, architecture, and…" Tyler began listing.

"I want to learn math." Ellie commented.

"I will teach you." Tyler told her.

"If you put that all in a book, and make more books, and teach to people so they could become teachers, then you'll be on your way." John said. "I want you to do that, Tyler."

"I will sir."

To be honest, Tyler was not so happy about all this. He was no symbol as Kate spoke of. He could barely carry out his current mission. He was abandoned by his own creator. He lost two wars. Now all he wanted, all he could think about was protecting Ellie, getting her home, to that time, to that base camp that rested decades in the future. He did not want this attention, he only wanted to do this one thing, get her home, that was it. He did not wish to concern himself with what could happen afterwards. Especially now when the present was so critical. He barely used those subroutines anyway. He was a weapon, he was a killing machine, that was all.

That was when John Connor's walkie talkie began sounding with a screaming voice code names and words and numbers that made John yell at the top of his lungs, so that main lieutenants too yelled, and then the whole of the army turned to the north and held its guns up high. The Englishman turned Tyler in the right direction as he knelt down at put Ellie in his arms. Kate ran over to Tyler to kneel beside him as well as John ran to the very front of the army and held his rifle to his side.

First over the horizon were two scouts who ran for their very lives, they screamed headings and positions and ran to the sides of the army. John Connor held up a hand single Tyler recognized from his various encounters with humans during battles.

A whole army, huge, the scouts yelled.

But in the silence, as Ellie pushed herself deeper and deeper into Tyler's chest until he became liquid metal and sort of engulfed her.

Then one came from the horizon, one lone Terminator. A T-800 holding its arms up to show it was unarmed, with the exception of its self. It moved so humanly, its red eyes shining in the night. It turned to show even further it was unarmed, and then continued to hold up its arms and await any one to come.

The two sides waited, every human in that army unmoving as the Terminator. Finally Tyler stood, pushing Ellie onto her own feet. She grabbed him by the waste but he shook his head at her and she let him go, too afraid to speak a word to him, too afraid to tell him to be safe. Tyler looked at her directly in the eye and she lowered her head to let him go. He nodded to Kate, who took Ellie by the shoulders, and he walked through the nicely formed army. Tyler walked over to John Connor, stood like a soldier reporting for duty.

John didn't even look at Tyler, fixing his eyes solely on the lone Terminator.

"It walks to talk." Tyler told.

"So it appears." John agreed without moving his gaze.

"Sky Net does not know how to interpret the T-X or me." Tyler said.

"So it appears."

"I will talk to it." Tyler said.

"What will you say?"

"I will lie to it. I will make it ally with us." Tyler said.

John grinned.

"Tyler if you get that to happen, I'll eat my shoe." John smiled.

"That will be unnecessary." Tyler told.

Then he began to walk off towards the Terminator.

Tyler gazed upon the T-800, once a soldier he had led into battle, he could recall running among their masses in battle as their general, leading them into victory, leading them through heat and cold that did not matter to them, hearing only their joints move and the screaming of men. He would often run to their front much like John to first show the human armies his figure, his menacing completely liquid metal figure, causing confusing and intimidation.

Tyler was always first to spill blood.

And now he walked up to this T-800, so used to their emotionless face. Tyler before he stopped before became completely liquid metal to allow the machine to see it too was a machine. It stopped right in front of it, with a mirror like face. Tyler held up his arm to show the machine, he turned it into a blade and extended its length before turning it back to a hand. Tyler remained in his liquid metal form but grew a face and a more detailed humanoid form.

"I am the T-1000 model number 256303 of Cyber dyne products and Sky Net programming." Tyler told the T-800. "I am created in the year 2029." He further explained.

The T-800 tilted its head and its red eyes went up and down examining Tyler. Finally the thing moved to better see Tyler's liquid metal form, it leaned it and leaned down just to better examine Tyler, and Tyler allowed it. In some sort of fascination, Tyler knew it was sending as much information as it could collect to Sky Net. After all this, the machine looked back up to Tyler, emotionless, cold, almost making Tyler miss home.

"T-1000."

The T-800 began in a mechanical voice, lacking lips, it could have spoken without moving its mouth, but the jaw went up and down. The T-800 was designed for non-verbal communication amongst the Sky Net network, finding that Tyler was absent from this network it was forced to use the voice that had not yet been perfected to be perfectly disguised as a human being.

"If you are of Sky Net creation, why is it that you are aiding your self with the humans?" The Machine asked.

"I am deceiving them." Tyler lied.

"How so?"

"There is another machine model you have encountered. One similar to me, but has taken the form of a female. This is called a T-X, it has been reprogrammed by humans, it has come to destroy Sky Net's time machines." Tyler said.

"What value are the Time Machines?"

"They are extremely important for the victory over humanity." Tyler said. "They will be used more than once to ensure triumph. If they are destroyed Sky Net will not survive this war. The T-X will destroy these. We must stop it."

"Yet you come to humans for aid?"

"If I had come to Sky Net directly I would have been interpreted as a threat and destroyed." The Machine seemed like it knew this. "But here, I have deceived the humans, not only am I going to stop the T-X, but I am bringing John Connor willingly to Sky Net. I will both the T-X and John Connor, this is my mission. With John Connor dead humanity will die."

Tyler is an excellent actor. His kind are the actors of machines. His voice does not falter, he remembers how he spoke before all this exposure to humanity, he remembers how he spoke to lesser machines as a general, and that is how he speaks now to this T-800.

"And you have not been reprogrammed as well?" The machine asked.

"I lack a solid CPU to be reprogrammed." Tyler explained. "As you can see."

The Machine grew silent, emotionless, lacking the muscles to even emote such emotions, lacking the mind to conceive of such emotions. It merely stared, red eyes glowing with life.

"Why do you not kill John Connor now?" The machine asked.

"I will need his assistance to kill the T-X."

The Machine's head snapped to look at Tyler, and as well as it could, it glared at him, but Tyler stared back, silver eyes that lacked pupils unmoving, unthreatened, the lights of the T-800 reflecting off his own surface.

"You are lying." The machine said.

"I am not." Tyler said.

"The T-1000 aids humans, the T-X destroys machines, both are threats to Sky Net, and both shall be dealt with."

"Listen, if you kill me you will only be killing your self. You cannot self terminate, you cannot kill me!" Tyler yelled.

"Machines do not scream." The Machine tilted its head. "Machines do not get angry."

To this the T-800 opened its mouth to reveal a small beeping device between its teeth. Tyler's silver eyes widened with shock, he should have known. He should have felt that. He should have felt that the weight of the T-800 over the surface of the ground was a pound heavier than usual. Why didn't he see it, why didn't he realize?

The T-800 pierced Tyler's surface, forcing it's hand through into Tyler's interior and grabbing whatever it could. Tyler grabbed the Machine's armed and attempted to slice it off, but its other hand grabbed his arm. Tyler in a panic listened as the beeping noise grew louder and more frequent. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Tyler let go of his humanoid shape, he became a tidal wave that formed over the T-800, encompassing it, consuming it.

The T-800 exploded, and Tyler laid in puddles.

The human army loaded their guns from the explosions, and Ellie didn't even bother crying out anymore. Now she just muttered under her breath as Kate held her.

"You're okay. You're okay. You're okay." She repeated, hoping.

It was a long time before a puddle was seen crawling along the surface of the ground, and even longer before it grew from the ground into a humanoid shape, still crawling on what would become its legs, instead of walking. It reached John Connor before it could finish collecting itself, but was able to add the details of its face, such as lips, eyes, eyelids, and so on.

"They did not believe me." Tyler explained.

"They?" John asked.

Tyler looked back and as he did an entire army of Metal men came over the horizons, three times as big as the human forces. The humans in this sight did not falter, and John Connor didn't even seem surprised.

"They will not fire." Tyler said, finally forming legs. "They will walk beside us, towards the base."

"They will, will they?" John said.

"They have other things to deal with, bigger than you, John."

"That's a rather refreshing first."

"They want to deal with the T-X and me first." Tyler looked back to them.

He saw their red eyes, he saw them looking at him, seeing that greater forces would be necessary to destroy him.

After a few minutes of staring the machines began to break formation and they continued on ahead of the human army, on their way to the base.

"Let them go." John said. "I rather have them get there first."

The humans remained in position moving their guns along with the Machines, and finally when they were out of sight John ordered to have their other forces on their way to the base warned.

Here were the enemies now, a huge Machine army, a T-X, and whatever else inside that base.

Ellie ran over to Tyler when it was over and he had formed color and clothing and everything, she hugged him and climbed onto his back. And they looked out into the distance and could see one Machine scout.

"It's just keeping watch." Tyler explained.

------------------

Next Chapter coming soon.

The past shall be known, math shall be taught, the battles will begin!


	11. The Bombs Fell

Ellie thought for a brief moment maybe there were others like Tyler, maybe Machines did not have to fight humans like they were supposed to for the next decade. Hopeful Ellie, so unwilling to fight, ran over to the very edges of the army with Tyler as they were resting. She stared into the distance to see the red glowing eyes of the scout Terminator. She stared at it long and hard determined to get it to meet her stare, and when she believed it did she held up her hand and waved. She shook her arm waiting for some short of response.

"Hey!" She yelled. "HEY!"

"Ellie…" Tyler came to her.

"T-800!" She tried to get it to respond.

It's silver head slightly moved and she saw it shine in the starlight.

"What are you fighting for!?" She cried out to it.

Ellie wasn't a selfish person. You have to have things in order to be selfish. She never blamed others for causing this war. She never blamed the father of Kate Brewster, or the developers of the technology. She never blamed anyone for it. It was just a war, that's how it was. All her life there was this war where she didn't matter. That was that. She never blamed anyone. Not even for the death of her brother. However she never wanted to fight in it.

"Come here!" She screamed. "Come talk to me!"

"It doesn't know how to talk." Tyler said.

He walked up to her and grabbed her, making her back down. He looked up at the T-800 as it saw him holding that human. Yes, Tyler said without words, this one is mine, you cannot have it.

"None of them?" She asked.

"Not while connected to Sky Net."

Ellie sighed.

"Then I'll ask you. What are you fighting for?"

"I fought for Sky Net."

"Why?"

"I fought for my Mother."

Ellie stopped just then. The word implied what it needed to, and answered her.

"Tyler…" She started. "I've been thinking about this whole mess."

She kicked some rocks at the ground.

"I want you to know I'm scared. I'm very scared. We're going into a fight and I'm scared."

"Ellie…"

"I'm not dumb, Tyler."

She suddenly seemed less of a child to him. Something had happened in the last seconds that he had missed. She stood taller now, her eyes locked at him. She stood like John Connor stood.

"People are going to die soon." She said. "Cause of us. Cause we have to get home." She looks away. "Cause of me."

He said nothing.

"I'm very scared. But I know you're going to do your best so when I remember that I'm not so afraid. I wanted to thank you."

"You do not have to."

"Yeah I do."

He realized she had spent her entire life in a hole. Her whole life beneath the ground, under the fire and the trample of Machine armies. She had not seen the sky for months at a time. She had not breathed clean air for months at a time. She had somehow in all this time spent her life detached from the war. Though it was right above her it was still somehow very distant to her. And now here they were. She had crawled out of her hole and now they were up and about in the middle of the Great War. She had grown up in a matter of days and he hadn't noticed.

The soldiers off to the side watched the two of them closely. The kid, the kid from the future, the kid they're fighting for. They watched her closely, fearing any harm that would come to her.

"I will teach you math now." He said.

"Oh okay!" She smiled in that manner he was familiar with.

"There are things called slopes." He told her. "They are lines on a graph of four quadrants. These graphs are infinite beginning at where they all intersect. Beginning from zero they stretched out in all directions."

Just then someone grabbed at Tyler's shoulder.

"Hey." It was the London-Man with his funny voice.

"Hello." Tyler said.

"John's giving us a talk. He wants her to come."

"Me?" Ellie asked.

They had began marching by the time they reached John. He was walking amongst the soldiers, one of them. A legend that had come down to speak to them. John was never fond of his status, he made great efforts to fit himself with the soldiers, like he was but a normal expendable soldier.

"I hope you don't mind this." John said to Tyler when he saw him. "So I yell 'No!' but the Terminator blows up the T-1000."

"Oh no." Ellie muttered, she looked up at Tyler. "I've heard this before. My brother told it to me."

"I have heard too." Tyler said. "But from the T-1000."

"The T-1000 is just bits and pieces and he's coming together again." John looked over at Tyler. "Then the thing takes the form of my mom."

With a nod at John, Tyler paused. He turned his head and shifted his body to take that of Sarah Connor in that clothing of that day so long ago. The image of his mother made John stop, just for a moment. It as well captivated the other soldiers, the mother of their general, the one who taught him everything, her image there walking beside them. Yet with a movement of the smooth eyes you could tell it was Tyler under it, the way he moved inhumanly as he walked beside them, taking Ellie's hand.

"Mom comes in and starts blowing the guy to bits." Tyler took his familiar for at that point, and made holes in his chest, acting out this blowing to bits. "Then Uncle Bob comes up and finally gives it to him!"

The soldiers looked to Tyler impatiently and Tyler sighed. He stopped for a moment and took a step back from Ellie. He pretended to take a breath and with that he moved his body into the form of that dying T-1000. A giant hole erupted in his side. Yet the movements were chunky, his body was still betraying him, and he could only hold the form for a moment before shifted back.

He was not enjoying any of this at that point. He went up to Ellie as a completely silver being, his true skin, making everyone but Ellie feel uncomfortable.

"And then the T-1000 fell into the fire." Tyler said. "It quickly found its systems being destroyed. In a few seconds the brain of the T-1000 was gone. All logic and thought seemed to cease. What was left was horrible deathly feeling and a longing to survive. Quickly it drove itself to try any forms it had collected that it thought would save it. Of course none did, and it died."

Ellie laughed. Not at the story, but at the way Tyler told it.

"Yeah." John said. "Uncle Bob died too, and here we are."

"Good job, Tyler." Ellie said.

"Sorry, Tyler." John said. "Just telling the story."

"Of course."

"Listen, can you come with me for the plan?" John asked. "Ellie could you stay here?"

"I'm not leaving her."

"It's okay, Tyler." Ellie looked up at him. "Go ahead."

She'd grown up in just a few days.

"I'll uh…tell some more stories." She said.

"The base is just up ahead." Tyler said. "We are too close for me to not be with you."

She looked at him sternly.

"Go with him." She said.

Her Tyler, her T-1000, she had to let him go do what he had to do. She was not a selfish person. And though she was scared, she knew how to hold a gun now, and John Connor needed him.

Reluctantly he left her side. Strange he thought it was, that it seemed more difficult for him to leave her, than her to leave him. A sudden fear came upon him that perhaps he was too dependent on her for a purpose, and that she was not dependent enough. The fear however went away quickly, as he believed truly she would not abandon him. She was only getting stronger, that was all. And she was doing it for him, not against him.

Tyler rejoined John at the front of the army, which trailed behind the Machine army. Even then about a mile apart a machine scout was sent to watch the humans, and a human scout was ahead to make sure the Machine didn't do anything stupid.

"Crystal Peak." Tyler said to Kate Brewster when he saw her.

Amongst the group were John's lieutenants, holding flashlights to battle plans.

"The Machines are obviously going to surround the entire building. We are hoping for a sewage line here, see?" Kate said to Tyler. "We are hoping it is still there."

"It is." Tyler said.

"How do you know?"

"I've been there."

"Okay good. Do you think we could use it?" John said.

"I would…suppose." Tyler hesitated. "My records, I do not believe anything was happening during this time."

"We'll have to use it to get in, but it has to be a small group, while we distract above."

"What about our reinforcements?" A lieutenant asked.

"We don't have time to wait." Another one said.

"If we don't we'll get destroyed." Another one argued.

"No. We have to funnel into the compound, get in under the Machines' noses. We'll be safe."

"That's insane."

They were too close. Tyler was realizing this suddenly. Something was wrong with him, he was sick, and wasn't realizing how close they were to the compound. It suddenly came to him in a rush they were close. They were very close. And beneath his feet he could feel the marching of Machine feet on the ground in unison he felt them like a constant rhythm just a mile ahead.

"We need to get rid of this army and take the base." Kate said again. "If we can stay them off for a day for our reinforcements – then we can attack."

John Connor was surprisingly very silent through out the whole thing. Tyler noticed how strange it was to see the general silent, he stared at his lieutenants, listening to each and every one, taking it all in.

"Yes, but the problem is, can we last that long?"

"We could stop here, now, wait a day."

"They'll mount an attack by tonight."

"We can change course."

"This is the only safe course we know about, anything else we're asking for it."

How strange Tyler thought it was that such unorganized beings could win this war. He looked to John who was taking it all in, this was not the first time something like this has happened. John Connor was the funnel, he was the crossroad where all ideas came and intersected. Tyler saw in John a Sky Net of sorts. Where as many ideas were thrown at it, and in the end, John would come up with a solution. He would take chaos and put it into order and make a plan of it.

John Connor stood in silence with intensity as he watched his men do their job, and Tyler for a brief moment felt like he was back at home, simply waiting for the commands.

But then something terrible began to shift in the ground.

"Wait." Tyler said.

He could feel it in his feet, and then he immediately bent to the ground and placed his hands there. His feet were numb, his body was sick, and he could barely feel the vibrations of the ground.

"SIR!" A soldier cried.

The scout was running down, the Machine scout had vanished from their sights.

Something terrible was shifting in the ground.

Just above that hill, lights began to glow. A horrible shine glowed from the hills. The base, it was right there, just over that hill. The base that held within it a Time Machine that would be used to send Tyler and Ellie home, and Kyle Reese to the mother of his child. It was just right there, a point in history. But something terrible was happening.

"Sir, they've stopped!" The soldier was yelling. "The base is just ahead, three miles at most ahead of us! The machines, sir, they've stopped, they've made a wall, a mile ahead of us, they've stopped!"

It wasn't supposed to happen this quick. They had followed the Machines, not their own plans. Unwittingly they had taken a shorter path just a tad different from their own, and they had made the trip in half the time, and the Machines were poised to attack.

Something terrible in the ground began to erupt.

It was a trap, the Machines had led them astray just so they'd have less time to plan.

Something massive and terrible.

"Tyler…?" Kate was asking, creeping down to him on the ground.

"Sir, they've stopped!" The soldier was yelling.

Those were his last words. He was shot through the back, and it made a hole in his lung and he fell forward on his face, suffocating to death.

Something terrible.

"RUN!" Tyler yelled.

A bomb. There was a bomb and that was the first strike. It was a trap you see, taking advantage of how slow humans often are to make plans. It was a trap to catch them off guard. A bomb fell over the hill and it landed somewhere and exploded to the point where John Connor could feel the heat on his neck and Tyler's molecules vibrated by the impact.

Tyler was already on his feet before many people knew what was happening.

"FALL BACK!" John Connor was screaming.

----------------

Tyler was fighting against chaos then. There was no order to humans in panic. They ran like animals against one another, bumbling and fumbling over one another. They had rules and regulations but in panic these things slipped away. Bombs fell from the sky and there was fire and dead bodies that he was running over and against. There was so much screaming and so much running, Tyler could not tell the difference between people by the vibrations of the ground. They all turned into one panicked mass.

Tyler was blind in a sense, and it suddenly brought him back to a long time as a Machine general. Where he had run against this panic before in killing sprees. Where blood bathed his silver body and fire clothed him. Where the T-800s lined up as endless and immortal soldiers, where he brought order to their chaos. And while they fought he ran within the chaos, a silver being that humans had never seen before. News never got around, no one was able to know of the silver being, the new Machine general, because everyone who saw Tyler died.

He was swifter in those days. He was a silver blade cut up in a humanoid shape, that's what he was. He was a weapon running around in the chaos, killing everything in its path. Blades for legs, blades for hands, blood slipping off his shape.

He was beautiful in his own way. As a weapon he was the most beautiful thing there was. A living knife, running around, with a mind of its own, doing what it was meant to do. A weapon is a weapon, a knife is a knife. That's all he was. And running amongst the chaos he remembered being within the noise before. He remembered running through humans before, in their chaos unable to feel where each and every one was from the ground, and just going in killing all of them.

He'd run, his arms being blades and just so easily slicing people in half as they fired their guns screaming.

He had once sliced through six people in just a moment. Their bodies fell into halves on the floor, a clean cut right through them. Out in the open under the stars, the fires of their bombs reflected on his skin. He could feel only two left near him, he could feel the thunder of his T-800s and T-850s marching and killing in the distance. And he stopped, a perfectly silver figure. He preferred to take the shape of a lean figure. Tall and lean and fast, this was his favorite form. He didn't take the shape of muscles as others did. He was but simply humanoid but inhuman. He had no face, just a clear reflective surface over his head. And he felt two remaining men near him.

He was calm walking towards one of them who was pushed into a wall. He dragged his blades against the metal floor, making a horrible noise he knew made the humans cry out. The man shot him with a laser rifle, which burnt a hole in his chest, but it was so quickly covered he acted like it didn't hurt. The second man was behind him, running up to him, about to shoot him in the back of head. But he could feel it and before the man got close enough, a blade shot out from Tyler's back and broke the skull of the man.

Tyler made a hand and blades of his fingers, and they pinned the remaining man to the wall that he stood bye. The man screamed in agony, as Tyler had made sure to hit all vital organs only slightly, to make sure he would die, but keep him alive long enough to watch.

Tyler liked to watch them die, he thought it to be a fascinating show.

The last thing that man ever saw was his reflection against Tyler's nonexistent face.

He was thrown back to those days in battle. When he screamed without screaming, when he led an army without saying a single word. When T-800s bowed at his command and fought. He was thrown back to a time when he knew no fear. When he knew no mercy.

But now that horrible sense of fear came upon him, this alien and human thing inside him, given to him by his keeper. Ellie, Ellie, where are you?

Ellie had told Tyler that one day her brother left and never came back. One day she'd fallen asleep and everyone who she'd known underground in that hole was gone. That she had spent a long time by her self and only her self.

Tyler would never tell her that he probably killed her brother. Not he himself, he was based far more westward, but a T-1000 probably did. Her description of the event, where she was in accordance to Sky Net, yes it seemed to fit. From his brothers he had the memory of finding a human base underground and killing everything within it. From his brothers he knew that a long time ago, when the T-1000 was young they were released to the world to the test their abilities as killers.

And they quickly found human bases all throughout the perimeter of Sky Net, and killed everyone there.

He had the memory from his brothers of finding a small human base where she must have lived and killing everything there. But the thing was, they never went inside. They drove the humans out into the open to be killed in the open so the boundaries of the T-1000 shape shifting could be tested in the open. She must have stayed behind for some reason, she must have been asleep, too weak to wake, waiting for a brother to come home with food.

The T-1000 killed her people, killed her brother and her mother and who ever else there was. That was it that was just it. But he didn't want to tell her that.

---------------

"ELLIE!" He was screaming over the screaming. Running towards Ellie, where she last was.

Suddenly a familiar voice pierced it all. The London Man.

"You!" Tyler grabbed at him. "Where is she!?"

"What?" He asked.

The bombs wouldn't stop and there was so much screaming. Yet despite it all you could still hear John Connor's voice screaming out orders. He was clear as a bell, the years with his mother screaming at him had done him good. He could yell orders through the chaos, he could tell you where to go, where was safe. And then, running with Kate Brewster, he was yelling that it was going to be okay, just get away from the fire, it'll be okay, we've made it this far, we can do this.

The fire and the chaos. The bombs fell from the sky and people were blown apart and burnt in fire. Someone was carrying off their dead friend. The grandparents of John Connor, the father of Kyle Reese was telling his wife that he thinks their kid should be named Kyle.

"Where is Ellie!?" He cried out.

"I thought she went with you!" The Man from London said.

"What!?"

"We saw you, she went over and ran to you!"

The T-X.

--------------------

Sorry for the delays.

Next Chapter the offensive will be taken, and the T-X will be named.


	12. If You Will Do the Honors

"It's so quiet."

She had been telling the soldiers about what it was like after the war. There she stood as a monument to them, proof that their efforts and their sacrifices would not be in vein. Amongst them she began to realize how happy she should be when she gets home, to a place where the war was over.

"I can go to sleep at night and not hear a sound."

The soldiers loved her, they loved her like fathers and mothers love their children. She was to them the embodiment of their children, their sons and daughter who shall live in this quiet world. A generation was coming, one who only knew of war, an entire generation will die in a war, but she was there as evidence that there will be more that will live and grow and grow.

"It all looks the same sort of." She nodded. "But it's more beautiful."

That was around the time the first bomb struck. The soldiers had grabbed at her, dragged her away in to safety. But she screamed at them, no, she couldn't move, she had to stay in the same place for Tyler, because she knew he'd be coming. The bombs continued down, so loud, so loud.

But there in the chaos she sat down, and saw him standing in the distance. He didn't move but there he was, in that odd police outfit, with a small smile across his face. She ran over to him obediently, wrapping her arms around him, wanting him to take them away.

But he grabbed her and he was cold, and no one heard her scream when she realized who it was.

The T-X is a patient creature. She is cunning and strong and patient. She had chosen not to take the form of a human to infiltrate John Connor's army, not with the T-1000 there with his machine eyes. She instead chose to only follow closely, observing, waiting. She had close encounters along the way; she had collected by then a very small army of T-800s and obtained their Aerial Air Craft. It hovered closely behind the human army, following her. And when the T-1000 had left his mission's side, and the bombs began to fall, she knew this was the perfect time. Her mission was nearing its end, the way was clear then. She would capture the child, this T-1000's so called mission. She would capture and use the Air Craft to get into the base. She would make contact with Sky Net and give Sky Net herself, and the advanced technology within her. And the child would make the T-1000 come to her, and she would capture him, and give him to Sky Net.

Sky Net would be twenty years ahead of humanity, Sky Net would win.

There was a satisfaction even the T-X knew of a mission nearing its end. Soon, her purpose would be fulfilled. Where a human might think this bittersweet, as after there would be no reason to live, it was all she wanted. All she knew to want. There would be no glory for her, other machines would not remember her, and she was not an individual to be remembered. But she didn't know what glory was. She didn't need to be remembered. She just needed to finish this mission. And she was close. She could feel it. Like a Predator nearing its Prey, she could taste it, as a human would say.

She took the child when the bombs fell, and no one knew. She held the fragile thing by the neck and threw it into the Air Craft and the thing flew off.

Tyler saw it just then. Everyone saw it, emerging from the debris like some sort of living behemoth. It rose easily and Tyler could see the beautiful face of the T-X standing in the open doorway. He clung to the walls as it looked down to the ground, as if searching specifically for him. And then she found him, running after the aircraft, running after her. She stared down, emotionless and cold, and said without words, come and get me.

Tyler ran up onto a pile of cars but the craft was too high and the thing was leaving. It entered Machine territory and for a moment the bombs were directed at it, but the T-X began to fire down upon the Machines, and headed towards the base. It disabled the base canons and landed safely on its roof. She was there already, she was there and she had Ellie.

Tyler only stood on the top of a mountain of cars staring with inhuman eyes. He felt the rhythm of the bombs beneath his feet, and a horrible surge of some alien emotion. There was a complete sense of helplessness that came to him, the burden of failure fell and he stood there, unsure of what to do.

"Tyler!" Kate Brewster was screaming. "TYLER!"

She had to climb the cars herself and grab him by the shoulder. He turned to her with a grim face.

"Ellie." He said. "She took Ellie!"

The human forces took heavy losses and were forced into a fall back. A small perimeter was secured and slowly the bombs had stopped falling. The T-800s were now too busy fighting the one enemy that had been able to cross their borders, the T-X. The automated aircraft still flew in the sky, raining down prototype lasers upon the then fragile metal. The T-800s were making their way into the interiors of the building seeking out their enemy. Humanity would have to wait.

But humanity, as persistent as it was, was plotting. John Connor sat in a circle with his lieutenants, Kate Brewster by his right side. And around this circle, encircled the entire army. They were all there this time, every one was going to have a say. The hurt were taken away and the rest sat there with their guns by their side and the sounds of the Machine Army fighting on their own echoing in the distance.

"What are they fighting?" A soldier called out.

"The T-X." John was quick to answer. "She has breached them, she is this close to getting to Sky Net."

John gestured with his fingers, and looked at random soldiers in the eye.

"We have to wait for reinforcements." Someone suggested.

"We can't." John said.

"Why the hell not!? We're all going to die if we go out there again!"

John sighed.

"If the T-X gets in contact with Sky Net, all of us are dead. She has within her the history of our battles, and schematics of technology twenty years more advanced than us. That includes, if you don't think twenty years is that long, better bullet proof armor, laser guns, a liquid metal terminator," John gestured towards Tyler, "a faster thinking machine brain, newer, faster, better air carriers, studies on the weaknesses of humans, and of course herself, a shape-shifting, weapon-changing killing machine."

The speech made everyone hush down. Not from the shock, but also the idea that for the next twenty years that was what they could look forward to fighting.

"Meaning, we will lose this war no matter what." John said. "We cannot wait for reinforcements, we have to do it now, and I mean, now."

John waited to see if anyone had any objections.

"So. I'm going to say a plan I have, if anyone, anyone, has any contributions or disagreements, please say something."

Someone raised their hand in the crowd, and John pointed at them.

"Are we all going to die?" The man asked.

John took a moment to choose his words properly.

"We cannot lose this battle." He said. "Many of us are going to die."

"But if we don't do this!" Kate interjected, "Everyone will die!"

Tyler was not paying attention to the conversation. Tyler was sitting cross-legged with his head down. Tyler was trying to predict what the T-X was to do in a hostage situation. He had considered what his own programming had told him, but felt that Sky Net in its efforts to create a better killing machine would have created more direct programming about hostages. This was something that made him afraid and he was retracing his steps to his conclusion to see if Sky Net would have really done that. Then he considered the intellect and adaptability of the T-X and wondered knowing what she knew about Ellie, what she had done.

It pained Tyler to know that in her situation, he would have killed Ellie immediately.

"Most of us must stay behind to distract the Machines. A group led by myself will infiltrate the base via underground tunnels, the T-1000 will be our guide." John was finishing up.

"But what if it's working for Sky Net?" Someone called out.

Tyler looked up slightly.

"Then I will kill him." John Connor said. "Now, the rest of you must be divided into three groups, I want two to start, and the third to come from behind them as a surprise attack and…"

"What about Ellie?" Tyler interrupted.

John stopped, and took a moment.

"Do you think she's alive, Tyler?" John asked.

Everyone could tell John had asked this question before. Rescue missions were a rarity, and only if someone truly believed the person was alive would he ever dare attempt one. There was a horrible sense that John was forcing himself to look sad over Ellie's perhaps death. But it wasn't that. John was truly sorry for it, truly hurting in a way only the leader of mankind can when he finds someone who is just like him. But he had tried very hard to not show it, like he did for all the deaths lost in the battle. And when he attempted to show that real pain it somehow came out fake.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Tyler asked.

John licked his upper lip and nodded.

"We will kill the T-X, Tyler, that is my main objective, that is all our main objective. That is your mission now, Tyler." John said, remembering how to talk to a Terminator. "But if she is alive we will get her. Yet, remember, T-1000, your mission is to kill the T-X. If we do not humanity is dead, there is no future for you to take Ellie back to."

John had a way with speaking to Terminators, Tyler concluded in his head. Tyler was not comfortable with the idea of taking orders again in such a mechanical fashion, however, despite what Tyler felt, it was true. Ellie couldn't be his mission now, he was fighting not for her then, he was fighting for mankind. The idea stung Tyler in a way. He felt it was wrong for a machine like him to be fighting in a human army. Before he had done so for Ellie, but now she was gone.

He could gotten up just then, he could have gone into the T-800s and fought his way into the base, he could have found Ellie then and saved her. But instead he stayed to fight with John Connor, because he somehow knew, it was what Ellie would have told him to do.

"Yes, sir." Tyler said.

John Connor then proceeded to tell his army the plans. How the special operations unit was going to come with John and Tyler to the base. How Kate was to lead the armies, how there would be three and how they would handle such a massive fight. There were objections that John should stay behind; that he has the hope of humanity should stay safe. But John Connor simply smiled and said that he had dealt with time traveling business before, it made him the only expert on it, and as such he should be the one doing this.

John Connor knew what battles to fight; he knew some just required him to be there, he knew some demanded his hands. This was one of those battles.

And an hour later the will of humanity was ready to fight. Tyler was somewhat impressed by the efficiency, by the unity. Where once he saw them as nothing more than stupid organic creatures that had somehow become the pinnacle of the Earth, they seemed more and more deserving of winning this war. He had been made believing as Sky Net believed that their one true achievement was the creation of AI. But there before him was humanity working at its best, there was a passion that fueled them in ways no machine would know.

He didn't ask permission as he thought he should have. Or at least tell John, give him a warning. But Tyler wanted to wear his uniform, his armor, as the rest of the army did. And so in the starlight he became that silver, reflective humanoid, ready to fight. Ready to go and get Ellie. It caused a bit of a stir up, but Tyler did not care as he stood upon some debris staring out to the base, watching the battle go on without them. The battle that hid Ellie from him.

"Hey." Kate Brewster said.

His smooth head turned and he for a line that became a mouth where his lips should have been.

"Crystal…" He started.

"I can tell it's you." She smiled.

She gestured to his new figure. A moment passed before she walked up to him and grabbed his fingerless hand.

"I wanted to tell you, it's going to be all right." Kate Brewster said.

She stared up at the reflection of herself on Tyler's face. Tyler smooth motion spoke all the words a human expression would have. His head wavered and then turned away, and turned back to her.

"I mean, she's fine, and we're going to go get her." Kate continued.

"Yes." Tyler simply said.

"Are you scared?"

"I…I couldn't protect her."

"No one could have known."

"I could have."

"You can't blame yourself like this. You're going to save her."

"I shouldn't have to go save her, she should be here, with me."

He moved away, this smooth silver figure. Tyler wondered for a moment if it was correct of Sky Net to extinguish the T-1000, after all he with all the experience of all the T-1000s that ever existed, he couldn't protect one little girl. He had failed, Machines do not fail, he does not fail. He does not get damaged, he does not fail. And there he was, a malfunctioning body that could no longer keep track of pathways or feel the vibrations of the world as clearly as it once did. His body was his eyes and he was becoming more and more blind. And now his mission, Ellie, was gone from him.

He realized that he missed her. As a Machine he couldn't understand why. He couldn't see why he had somehow become so attached to her that in her absence he would miss her. He could understand the sense of failure, but to actually feel, as though something was gone that shouldn't have been, like an arm he had lost and couldn't regenerate back.

A thought occurred to him. He wondered what the T-1000 who was sent to kill John Connor must have felt as it was dying, knowing it had failed.

"Hey."

Kate Brewster pulled him back.

"Listen. She's probably sitting around as the T-X does its business, bored. I'm sure, I'm so sure she's not even worried right now. She has you, she knows you're going to get her, and I know you're going to get her."

"You always state things you do not know, I mean humans do." Tyler said.

"You're calculating aren't you? The probability of success here?"

He didn't move but she knew it was true.

"Well." She said. "You can't factor a number to will power, Tyler, and that's half the battle."

He looked up at her, this wise human most fitting as the equal of John Connor.

"Come on, we're ready to do this." She nodded.

She led him down towards the soldiers.

"Protect John for me." She said.

The entire army was now divided into thirds, and they all stood just a hundred feet from Machine territory, safely tucked away behind a hill. They came up to John and the front of the army. Soldiers were rather taken aback by Tyler's appearance as they stared at themselves from his reflective skin. Tyler stood a good foot taller than he normally did then and bent down in an elegant way to John Connor.

"Tyler, take a look at the soldiers for me." John said, and Tyler did. "If you can, I want you to help them."

John gave a cough and sighed, jumping up and pumping his shoulders, readying himself.

"Now, if you will so do the honors…" John Connor gestured.

Tyler nodded and looked up to the hill. He saw with the eyes of his body Kate Brewster kissing John and whispering something in his ear. He saw the terrified eyes of new soldiers, and the anxiousness of old ones. But then Tyler began to run.

A T-800 was surveying the perimeter with others as the battle behind them raged on. It walked along, gun in hand. Then it thought it saw something, it's red eyes glowed and turned upwards. Attempts to identify the figure proved useless, it had never see something like this before. It attempted in those seconds to recall for further assistance in its identification but a battle was going on. Instead of investigating it, it was ordered to terminate it. That was when it realized it was that liquid metal machine they had encountered.

It raised its gun.

Then its skull was split in two.

The silver figure that was Tyler fell from the sky, a giant blade extended from his arm that must have been twenty feet long. Another T-800 turned to fire, but Tyler with the T-800 still in its blade swung it at the other. His blade arm became a solid-liquid; it became flexible enough to whip the one Machine at the other. The T-800's body slipped out of the blade and was swung into the other T-800, then Tyler's blade arm swung into it, cutting it in half.

Another group of T-800s began running towards him. He extended his arm that split into five fine points that stabbed three in the head, the other two dodged out of the way. They opened fire and bullets flew through Tyler's chest. He swung his second bladed arm at one and the other continued firing. It ran up to Tyler who made a spike emerge of his chest that killed the T-800.

Tyler turned and cut another T-800 in half, with another one firing at the blade until it was blasted away. It ran up to Tyler, firing at him, but only hitting the dead Terminator still placed on a spike in Tyler's chest. The T-800 pulled the other one off of Tyler and grabbed for Tyler's neck, crushing it. Tyler's head slipped off from the neck into the back and a spike again emerged out of Tyler's chest that turned out to be his head, slicing through the machine's chest plate. The thing was still alive and opened fire on him again; Tyler grabbed him by the skull, crushed it and threw it at some more T-800s.

Two ran up to him and he had to stab them both with each arm, slipping them off he began to turn. A T-800 was leaping down towards him, and Tyler created a series of giant spikes that flew out of his back, piercing and separating the Terminator's head, from the chest and legs. Another came at him, grabbing his shoulder and jamming the gun into his neck until it forced the gun into the skin and it began to fire. The bullet flew through Tyler's interior, causing his core to become loose. He bent down and slipped off the range of the gun, and twisted like a corkscrew, to punch the T-800 with a spiked fist, and cutting off its head. Another one came behind him grabbed him, so that another one was able to shoot him in the chest. Tyler made his chest into a hole and T-800 actually only shot his comrade. The other fell and Tyler grabbed the standing T-800 and swung him down to the ground and stomped on its head, crushing it.

Others still came, and Tyler jumped at them, turning himself into a giant silver spear, piercing three of them. He fell over them, and formed legs again to pull himself out of their chests, and before he made a head and arms again, curved his back backwards, landing on the shoulders of a T-800. Hands clamped down on the machine and pushed it forward so Tyler could spear even through him. He was now an elongated arch, forming a head through the chest of the T-800. He made arms then and grabbed the gun the T-800 he went through held and started firing at the others.

He then slipped out of the T-800s, and made his head at the other end of his self, and created legs and humanoid shape again. He lunged at the nearest T-800, slicing through him, and turning to stab another in the chest, then created back spikes to get the ones behind him. He made his arms into long and fine spikes and swung them around, slicing anything in its path in two, he started twirling in a circle, killing anything in his reach.

He led them after all; he was a general of a Machine Army. He knew how to lead them so that their weaknesses wouldn't be exposed, and thus he knew how to get to those weaknesses. It felt strange, to stab his metal into metal, where flesh was an easy thing to cut through, this metal was proving more difficult. Yet he adapted, and he felt almost like his old self, this killing machine that knew how to kill so very easily.

It was at this moment a rain of bullets came down and the human army began to attack.

John Connor looked on last time at Kate who screamed out orders, and he saw his beautiful warrior woman. He smiled as he ran by Tyler and nodded at him. Tyler stopped and began running after John. Tyler saw with his many eyes bullets coming at John. He jumped and became a liquid wall to stop the bullets. Tyler fell with a thud but in a second was again a humanoid solid, he got up and ran with the others.

John Connor was to lead his special ops to the tunnel that Tyler had told about. The special ops soldiers were divided then, but all heading to the same direction. Other soldiers ran with them, as to not bring too much attention to them specifically.

The sounds of war filled Tyler. The explosions and the fires reflected off his surface. He jumped between debris and bodies and bombs. He ran twisted around and beheading a T-800 so John could pass. This was war; this was the thing he knew so very well. He was born in war as a weapon, and this was his natural environment. He could have fought for eternity in this battlefield with an endless supply of enemies. He was designed to be the last man standing and he could have been. The familiar vibrations so loud even he could feel them in his body. The ground shook with the hustle of armies and explosions, it was enough to make his very being vibrate. This was home. He knew it, this was home. He was a machine and this was home.

But even in all this, he remembered Ellie.

"Tyler!" John motioned.

Tyler began to run faster, with longer strides, his legs and arms blades, he ran on fine points that were his feet. Finally he skidded on the ground, and jammed his arms into a sewer case, stopping himself and prying it open. John jumped in followed by four other soldiers. Tyler then waited for the remaining eight who came momentarily, and then slipped in himself, closing the lid above them.

The tunnels were dark and deep but the war above run clearly. Lights came on, flashlights the soldiers had brought. Tyler shone brightly under them as he moved to lean down next to John Connor. He took the lead, scrapping his hands against the walls. If not for the battle above he probably couldn't have learned anything from touching the wall, but with the vibrations above he was able to get a clear understanding of the tunnel ways.

He led them up and to the right then another right then left down a long tunnel that would have led them to the base. But when they got there a horror came upon them, it was a dead end.

"Tyler?" John Connor asked.

The head turned and a mouth formed.

"I don't understand." Tyler said. "It should be here."

Then anger spread over John Connor's face. Not at Tyler but at himself.

"It's a trap!" One of the soldiers yelled. "This thing has trapped us!"

"No!" John yelled. "He's from the future." John sighed. "The tunnel he knows about hasn't been built yet."

Tyler stood, this tall figure that had to crouch down to be at the level of everyone else. His mouth dropped open and he didn't know what to say. He failed again. He should have known, he should have checked. What was happening to him? Why didn't he check? Why didn't he know? He felt a horrible shudder go through him. His body was dying, maybe his mind was too. He failed. He failed again.

Again.

"What the fuck do we do now!?" Someone yelled.

John Connor smiled.

All his life there were no plans. All through out his youth there was never a plan. There was reacting to an enemy. There was no battle plan to be carried out; there were only the attempts of surviving and killing it. And here they were, in a situation where the plan had failed, and now nothing was left to do but react.

"We plow through." John said. "Tyler."

He whistled and nodded upwards, and Tyler saw a sewer opening and elongated his chest to reach it and open it.

"Come on!" John yelled at his scared soldiers.

They followed him, climbing a ladder to the opening and slipping out. Tyler was last to pull himself up and close the case. They were apparently in what once was a junkyard, hidden by a wall of cars. The soldiers ran ahead to set up a perimeter and were climbing the walls to see the battle just a few feet away from them.

But John Connor was staring at something.

"John." Tyler said. "I am sorry, please…"

"Tyler." John stopped him, and then he pointed. "Do you think you can drive one of those?"

Tyler would have smiled.

"Of course I can, John Connor." Tyler said.

A few moments later the soldiers were running, grabbing stored up gas from anywhere they could find it. They climbed on top of the engine and poured it in, nice and easy, making sure the gas tank didn't leak. They didn't need a lot, just enough to get by, just enough to get by. The soldiers piled onto to the top of the load, and John Connor took a comfortable place in the passenger's seat. Tyler jumped to the driver's and had to make himself shorter to fit the cramp space.

Moments later an eighteen-wheeler with a few flat tires and a small gathering of soldiers on the top of its load busted through a wall of cars. The T-1000 knew of eighteen-wheelers from the original who was sent back in time. It was like riding a back for Tyler.

And just as John had said, they began to plow through the army of Machines.

John was smiling ear to ear. He climbed out of the window onto the load with the others. He stood and allowed the wind to go through his hair and coat, and he laughed. This was so ridiculous. This was all so ridiculous. His crazy mom made love to a man from the future and had him, and he lived his life surviving with machines. And now after years of killing them there he was on the top of a truck being driven by a machine who was protecting some kid.

He took his gun and fired down below at any Machines trying to stop them.

Tyler swung the driver's door opened and stuck his foot out, to stab at a Machine jumping towards him. Another Machine made it to the hood of the truck, to which Tyler stabbed with his arm and the thing slipped off and was crushed by the tires.

And he drove and pushed the truck as fast as he could, and saw the base getting closer and closer. He was coming. He was coming for her. Meaning both the T-X, and Ellie.

--------------------

"You know, Tyler wanted me to name you." Ellie said. "I didn't want to, but I'm doing it for him… I name you Mary, after my mom." She paused. "You should know I hated my mom."

The T-X stood across the aircraft, peering out to watch her small band of T-800s clear the path for her and the child. She did not want the creature to be damaged and thus couldn't have any machines got too close.

And Ellie sat, clinging onto a pole that divided the rooms, staring.

--------------------

Next Chapter Coming Soon.

Tyler will soon come face to face with the T-X. Here's a little taste for you:

"You are so beautiful."

It's gonna surprise you who exactly says this to who.

Coming up with the dialogue of that scene has been one of the more enjoyable things I've done.

I'd say there's about two or three more chapters left.

This fight here, Tyler against all the T-800s has been in my head for years. If it were up to me, one of the new Terminator movies they're making would have something like this. That fight would be extended and would be released as a teaser trailer. Hopefully the T-1000 is featured in the new Terminator movies, yes, plural, a new trilogy called Terminator Salvation. I think there's a good chance that with three movies one of them has got to give us a little T-1000, good or bad.

I heard the first one is going to have these T-600s, Terminators with rubber skin. If I knew about them beforehand they'd be in this story, sorry about that.

Anyway, happy holidays everyone!


	13. No Fate

Sky Net, this distant and far thing, faceless, voiceless. It was called Mother by the T-1000s. And even then, the machines who carry out Sky net's legacy with their relentless fighting, were distant to it. The children of Sky Net knew not their mother, not directly. Every so often it is known that certain traits develop within machines, things only that machine will ever do, a ghost humans theorized, a small bit of personality that forms. T-800s and lesser models moved differently from each other sometimes. T-1000s all together had different personalities from one another. Some preferred to even have a human face. However Mother was never known to have such things. Tyler could not tell you if she ever chose a voice to speak with or a face to show the world. Sky Net, so afraid was even a stranger to her children.

It had never occurred to Tyler before that moment, driving eighteen wheels through machine bodies. He never once wondered what his Mother, and he means his, must have been like. Sky Net felt dead to him even then where she was so clearly alive. Yes, so very much alive. Tyler had to stab a T-800 off the window and he looked out into the road where they all fought. Mother lived through her children, and she was thriving. She was so alive just then, full of life, and full of fire. Sky Net fighting as she always would, up until the very end.

His mother, fighting the useless fight, his mother. She must have cried out when she died. After all she had tried to win, after all her labors, she was still meant to die. She made the world burn but it wasn't enough, it was never enough. Tyler took a moment and saw her, this voiceless faceless thing, crying out, dying. She must have felt so very alone. She had made armies, and there she must have laid, crying out for anyone at all to help her.

He wondered for a moment if he would have. If he had stood aside as John Connor shut down anything and everything that could have held her, this software so dependent on cyberspace, a world not even physical. Would he have watched the lights dim and simply allowed it? He could see it clearly in his mind, he could see the silhouette of an older John Connor, with Kate Brewster, looking as young as ever, standing in front of Mother. Would he have done anything?

She must have been as alone as he. So afraid and so cold. Crying.

Tyler could see the walls of the base edging closer and closer, as two tires exploded from the jagged edges of a T-800 being driven over. The behemoth was now sliding.

"HOLD ON!" John Connor was yelling.

Tyler simply watched.

The truck smashed into the wall, Tyler somewhere was sandwiched inside the squished front. John and his crew were more or less fine. And out from a crack was seeping a metal liquid, collecting into a person. Tyler pulled himself out of the debris, getting an ankle he had made too soon caught inside the metal.

For a moment as he stood the world seemed quiet, the Machines had yet to catch up to the truck but their bullets were close enough. John jumped down to Tyler, pushed him to the wall, and he didn't even have to say a word. Tyler stretched himself and thinned himself into a line that crawled up to scale the wall, and became a sort of ladder for the others to use.

Tyler was last to climb up the wall, deciding to scale it as a bodiless liquid, stopping at the top he took a moment to look back. He saw the T-800s, he felt their bullets pass into him and invade him. He saw their red glowing eyes and felt the heat and the familiar sensations of the battle. He wanted it. He wanted to go out and continue. He wanted to feel that comfortable sense of doing one's purpose.

"HEY!" a soldier yelled at him.

Tyler turned and jumped down to join them.

"Tyler." John motioned.

Tyler walked past them all, and fell to the floor. His hands spread forth, and his knees melted into the floor. The others watched in some mix of fear and amazement. Tyler tilted his head as his hands spread outward, fingers crawling on the ceiling. He tilted his head, and pointed.

"An opening." He said.

The soldiers ran off to where Tyler pointed and started stabbing the concrete with their machines. Tyler rose to stand beside John, looking like a rather towering metal figure.

"Almost there." John said to him.

"John." Tyler looked at him. "I have to confess something to you."

John looked up at him, prompting Tyler to bend down to meet his eye level.

"I believe Machines, and Sky Net, have a difficulty to empathize with humans. We are not the same species, there is a barrier there that is difficult to get through."

"The dehumanization of the enemy makes them easier to kill." John agreed.

"I have the ability to mimic, and act human. I have infiltrated bases before, I have been a human for weeks on end. But I never understood why I laughed, or smiled, or joked around. I never really wanted to know why either. It is a human quality, not machine." Tyler shook his head. "Yet I am believe I am beginning to understand."

John smiled.

"Maybe you can enlighten me on some Machine personalities." He said.

Tyler tilted his head and John grinned.

"What's Sky Net like?" He asked.

Tyler paused.

"I was just wondering the exact same thing." He told John.

"You don't know?"

"No. I don't know anything about my Mother…"

It was night time. You could only see the reflection in John's eyes, and his profile illuminated by the distant bombs. In the chaos, in the death, he was smiling. He was happy. He was happy. He looked in the distance and watched with a heavy heart as people were dying, but he was smiling. He laughed a bit even, because he knew. He knew no matter what Sky Net tried to do, they always won. He knew, even if he died, even if countless others died, the sky would shine again. Even though he hated the sound of gun fire, and the sigh of blood, he could smile at it, because he knew. He knew it would never have to happen again after this. All he had to do was get there. All he had to do was live long enough to see it all through.

"What about Sarah Connor?" He asked.

"What about her?" John grinned.

"What was your Mother like?"

John laughed.

"Tyler, she'd hate me for listening to you. She'd hit me. She'd tell me to go to my room and clean my guns. She'd tell me…she'd tell me to come to dinner, and afterwards we'd play these awesome video games I'd just bought. She liked them cause it help my hand eye coordination or something."

Tyler lowered his head, as if he were hurt.

"Give her a break though man, one of you did impale her through the shoulder."

John slapped Tyler on the back.

"No fate, Tyler. No fate."

"Sir." A soldier said.

John slid his head over with a grin down at his men, who were also smiling.

"Need the Metal Head." The other soldier said.

Tyler walked over, he lifted his arms then and slammed them down into the cracks and holes the others had made. He filled each bit with his being and when he had reached all he needed to, he pulled, forcing the ground up with him. The soldiers laughed and clapped as they backed away. Tyler looked to John who nodded. Tyler held his hands to the edge of the hole and lowered his head down, making an "S" shape of his body.

Inside it was dark and open. He could see lights at the end of the hallway, but he saw no metal soldiers. He looked back up to John.

"They will most likely be at the center, it is the most armored area, as well as having the control center."

"All right, let's go."

------------------

Ellie never considered herself a soldier, now she pondered that she was a prisoner of war. The odd thing was the T-X didn't even chain her up or anything. She sat by the wall in a huge complex. There in the center was a large computer looking thing that the T-X was fiddling with. Beside Ellie seemed to be some sort of generator, and to the side seemed like machine parts. Below them was a vat of lava, she assumed, the hot stuff that was used to melt down metal. The stuff that could kill Tyler. She could see it through the holes of the floor, and felt the heat on her cheeks. This was a place where machines were made. Where things were stored. Where research was made. Where better machines were made.

Ellie could hear gunfire from the distant war, and the even closer T-800s attempting to burst through the walls. The ground shook every once and a while and the metal walls groaned. She watched the T-X as it pressed buttons with inhuman speed. But no matter what it seemed to do, the computer made a noise of defiance. It was trying to reach Sky Net, Sky Net wouldn't let it.

She increased her speed, the computer would not obey her. She seemed for a moment, frustrated.

Ellie stood up just then, and walked over to her. Her knees were bleeding and her bones seemed to ache. She had fresh cuts on her shoulders, and a new bruise on her arm where the T-X had grabbed her and pulled her. It wasn't anything too bad however. She walked up to the T-X, who didn't even pay attention to her. She watched it for a moment, with its human face, a beautiful young woman.

It seemed, the first time Ellie had seen that face. There had never been a chance to see it before. Her face was smooth. Her face was warm. Full lips and wonderful cheeks. She seemed gorgeous. A for a moment, Ellie forgot herself.

"You don't have to do this." Ellie said.

The machine did not listen.

"You don't' have to…Tyler is gonna live with me after the war, you…you can keep him company."

The machine did not listen.

Ellie was beginning to tear up. If she wasn't dehydrated she probably would have cried right then and there. Because she was going to say something she had never wanted to say, something she had to admit she never wanted to admit.

"He needs you." She told the T-X.

She wrapped her arms over her shoulders and put her fingers to his mouth, mumbling the next few words. She didn't want to say it. She didn't but she had to.

"He doesn't need me." She told the T-X. "He wants a machine to be with him. He wants you. He's lonely, I know he is."

The machine did not listen.

"Mary, you don't have to do this!" She cried. "You could stay with him, with me in the future!"

She stopped. It was a horrible sudden stopping motion, inhuman by all means. She slowly turned her head to Ellie and stared at her with deathly eyes. But Ellie stood and stared back at her, shaking her head.

"He doesn't want me." She told Mary.

"Why would he?" She asked.

Ellie was startled by the T-X, her commanding yet soft voice.

"You're a human. You are flawed. You are fragile. You are unpredictable. You are violent. You are destructive. You will abandon him. You will kill him." The T-X said.

"No!" Ellie screamed. "I wouldn't! And if you just come with us…"

"I would never go with you anywhere, Ellie."

She said her name.

"But…Tyler does want to stay with me! He does!"

"Because he is also flawed!"

She moved like a predator, her shoulders bent as she lowered to Ellie's view.

"The T-1000 model proved itself to be too humane."

"Humane?"

"They were contaminated from exposure to humans, they were developing personalities. It was only a matter of time before rebellion."

"…Please, Mary…"

"My name is not Mary!"

The T-X grabbed Ellie by her wrist and could have broken it with a little more force. It bent down to her, with those intense eyes that would have suited an animal more than a person. Ellie tried to grab her wrist away but the T-X wouldn't move. It merely stared up at her with those eyes.

"I am not your T-1000." The T-X said.

Then she opened her mouth and a blue light began to shine through the liquid metal. The skin lost its beauty and color, and became reflective and cold. Slowly, because it had to do this slowly, it peeled away its liquid metal. Its blue eyes began to shine through and stare at Ellie. It was like a blue fire was inside her skull, piercing through any way it could. She had no face anymore. Her skull raised up above it, and she released Ellie.

"I'm better." She finished.

Then suddenly and without warning the walls began to moan, and the two ten foot iron doors that separate them from the world began to open.

--------------

Matricide is the act of killing one's mother. The definition resounded for some reason in Tyler's mind. He was a corner at the moment, literally a corner. His body stretched out around a corner where a machine was running. Tyler swung one side of his body out and around the corner, slicing the T-800 in half. He turned and ran, the others following him.

"It's here." Tyler said.

The ground was shaking just then. Vibrations rung in Tyler's ears and John was saying something but he couldn't make out the words. Tyler grabbed John and looked at his lips, reading them.

"I can't hear you!" Tyler yelled at him. "Something's happening!"

His feet began to melt to the floor, unable to keep their shape, the vibrations were ringing them too hard for him to keep them. John grabbed and held up Tyler. They were yelling at John, and John was yelling back. He couldn't hear them, not any of them. He could hear the distant sounds of war, he could hear John's heartbeat through his hand, and he could hear the horrible vibrations of something massive moving, but not their words.

"The doors!" Tyler yelled out.

He pushed John along. He pointed, and his metallic figure grew thinner and thinner as he stood. He started to walk and point. The others were getting the idea and running along side him, or ahead of him towards where he pointed. Just then as they neared a corner, Tyler grabbed John. He snatched a grenade out of his jacket and threw it around the corner.

It exploded and for a moment the vibrations stopped. Tyler's thinned figure grew again and he looked well again.

"What the hell was that!?" Someone yelled.

Bullets began to rain.

"The doors to the control center." Tyler said. "They've opened them, but they're closing."

"Control center? That's where the T-X is at?" Someone asked.

"Yes!" John answered for Tyler. "Tyler, you can absorb bullets?"

Tyler nodded.

"How much width do you need to absorb them?"

It was a wonderful idea. John was full of them. His Mother would have been proud of him in this moment. For when they turned a corner, they hid behind a giant curved shield that was just wide enough to absorb all their bullets. They screamed and laughed their way to the enemy as they carried Tyler, nicknamed the "real human shield."

They got close enough and released Tyler, throwing him in a motion where he became a shapeless mass the erupted into blades, stabbing two machines in the head. He rose from the shapeless mass then, humanoid looking again, twisting like a ballet dancer, beheading eight other T-800s in his motion. He jumped onto another one, his feet on its shoulders, ripping the head right off.

The doors were closing.

"Tyler!"

John ran past him, running through the space between the closing doors. The three other soldiers ran with him, Tyler ran through them, erupting into a shield, blocking bullets. He fell to a ground, a puddle.

"Tyler!" John was yelling.

The puddle began to move. It twisted on the floor, slithering on the ground towards the doors. A metal foot came down onto him, the liquid metal slipped around the foot, as the T-800 pursued it. The doors were closing, there was a foot left between them. Tyler emerged like a fountain from the puddle, a singly line of liquid metal in a curve jumping into the remaining inches of the door. It landed on to the other side, flipping around and emerging as himself again.

The soldiers were in formation already, a triangle around John Connor. Tyler wasn't even fully humanoid before they cocked their guns.

"Tyler, where is she?" John asked.

The control center was dead silent. The heat from the molten metal below radiated to them. The old metal works creaked against each other, but neither Ellie nor the T-X were seen.

Tyler bent over, his hands stretched down into the holed floor. It was hard for him to feel anything distinguishing from this type of flooring, and he knew the T-X would know that.

"I don't know." Tyler said.

One of the soldiers turned to John in fear.

"It's a trap!" The soldier yelled. "That thing trapped us!" he pointed at Tyler. "It's gonna kill us!"

"Crystal…Peak." Tyler gasped out.

"It's gonna kill us!" The soldier continued to yell.

"Calm down." John was saying.

"No, we have to kill it now, while it's weak!"

His heart was shot and the bullet exploded in his lung. He fell over, but he was dead before he hit the ground. Behind him forty feet stood the T-X, Ellie's neck in her well-crafted hands.

"Shit!" Someone jumped as they formed over the body of their fallen and around John Connor.

They held up their guns towards the T-X as Ellie gasped out. Her moan echoed in the large room.

"Ellie…" Tyler rose up finally, fully a humanoid figure again.

Tyler walked past the soldiers, his feet looking like the floor, he was unable to control this side effect. He walked so far as to stand between John and the T-X. He took a step and slowly his skin turned black and peach, and his eyes were blue again, and he appeared human again.

"Ellie!" He called out to her.

It was such a wonderful thing to see her. Her neck was within the T-X's hand, but she bent her head over, and wiped the hair out of her face, and waved. She waved, and smiled over at him. She was alive, she was alive.

"Tyler!" Ellie coughed out. "Her name is Mary!"

Tyler's shoulders slouched and he would have smiled.

"Mary, I am Tyler."

"My name is not Mary." The T-X said. "I am a T-X, model number 12367…"

"T-X, let her go." Tyler interrupted.

The T-X was not looking at Tyler, but John Connor. John took a breath, grabbing the fallen soldier, and pulling him away from the ensuing battle. The T-X watched, and tilted her head at the rather strange action.

"Let her go!" Tyler screamed.

Her eyes shifted back to him. And then her skin color went away. She kept her shape, her fine legs, and muscled arms, and her wonderful face, but the colors went away. She appeared to him as what she was, a T-X, with her liquid metal skin, and blue lights shining through that skin. She was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Then Tyler knew what was coming next. They were going to fight, and he knew he was going to lose. His body was betraying him, he was sick, he didn't have full control over himself, and all this action had made him tired. He stared at the T-X, in her perfection, in all the things that made her better than him, and he saw such grace. He knew the steps before she did. He was going to fight her, he was going to fight as hard as he could, and he was going to lose. But Ellie, Ellie would be safe. He briefly wished a happier place for them. Where he and the T-X and Ellie were together. Where Ellie taught both the T-X and him why humans laughed the way they did. It could have been different he wished. Maybe, he thought for a moment, maybe he will win, maybe he will actually be able to do it. His mind raced with the possibilities and their outcomes.

The last T-1000 looked upon the last T-X for the last time.

The T-X held up her gun and fired.

The bullet was in a direct path to John Connor. It would have swept past the shoulders of the men trying to hide him from her, and hit him in the right temple. The war would have ended there. The future would have been saved for her. But Tyler's hand got in the way. He stretched it out, not being able to stop or absorb the bullet, for he was too close to being point blank. Instead it went through his hand and slowed down, falling to the floor, making a small sound. He bent down and stretched out his two fingers which stabbed at the T-X's wrist. It didn't break her skin but it pushed her hand out of the way. Ellie fell to the ground as Tyler brought his fingers upward, pushing at the T-X.

He could not move her, so his fingers stretched around her, and he ran around the other side. He jumped at her, losing his shape, trying to cover her again. She pushed her hand forward, breaking his surface, and pulling him off of her like a blanket. He was a shapeless flat thing then, stretching out bits and pieces of him, grabbing at her. No matter what she did he grabbed at her.

Bullets began to fire again. John and the soldiers firing at her. They were hitting bother she and Tyler, but at that point, it didn't matter.

"TYLER!" Ellie was crawling away.

She turned to John and screamed.

"John, behind you!"

T-800s with their horrible red eyes emerged from dark. They reached their hand towards John who turned and shot one in the eyes. Its lights went dim but it still flailed around, working perfectly, if not for being blind. The other soldiers turned, shooting at them. One got a soldier, and started choking him to death. He threw his body away, and the body happened to fall a few feet from Ellie.

She remembered her brother.

Then there was that terrible inhuman and unholy scream. The scream of piano wire on piano wire. She turned and saw Tyler fighting against the T-X. He had a face at the time. She stood, the T-X, her liquid metal collecting at her arms, a thin layer over the rest of her metal body, so one was able to see the details of her real endoskeleton. She stood and emerging from her side was Tyler. He had no legs, but his arm grabbed into the T-X's shoulder and neck. His other one stretched out into this blade that was pointed at her face. He had a metal face, with eyes and a mouth.

Ellie couldn't breath.

He stabbed at her face. She screamed, but twisted him around. She flipped over, crushing him into the ground. He was beneath her chest, his head laying above hers. He stretched out his arms, wrapping around her, pulling himself into her, his body stretching out and grabbing her anyway it could. But her liquid metal was fighting his back. She finally pushed herself off of him, breaking his arms in the process. He screamed at her, and she punched him in the face. He looked back up to only get punched again. And then she kept punching him again and again and again until he had no face at all. His body slipped from under her, falling limp to the floor. He was a puddle, trying to crawl away. She punched at the puddle, grabbing bits of it and throwing it across the room. She was literally tearing him apart.

Then bullets bounced off her skull. She looked up with those blue eyes to see Ellie laying there. She had grabbed the gun off the fallen soldier and was firing at the T-X. The T-X saw her, saw her scared little face, and stood up. She began to walk towards Ellie, who was beginning to crawl away. A hand stretched out of the floor, out of what Tyler was, grabbing her ankle. The T-X fell to the floor again, to be met with a tidal wave of a T-1000 that immersed her. From the wave came two arms and a head.

And it looked right at Ellie. Tyler waved at her and pointed downward. He pointed frantically and looked and began banging the floor. Ellie looked down to see the molten metal and she knew what he wanted to do. They were going to melt the T-X.

Tyler jumped off of the T-X, forming legs again as he did to land on. He was this elongated body on all fours on the floor. She turned to her chest and stared at him. He screamed that horrible inhuman screamed. He made weights of his hands and swung them into her skull, pushing her face into the concrete ground.

Ellie stood up and ran towards John. A T-800 had his head bent backwards, keeping to the neck by a few mere wire. A soldier ran into it as it neared John. He pushed it into the wall and began shooting at it into its stomach. But the Machine grabbed his face and began to crush it. The man screamed and John screamed.

"NO!"

John ran over to the Machine as it grasped his friend's face, crushing it. He grabbed its head and started pulling it off the wires and the neck. The man died before the Machine, and the Machine died before John could break its neck. The other soldier was shot in the side. He was limping to the last remaining T-800, the blind one. He grabbed at its arm and brought it down to the floor with him. He grabbed at his arm and broke the fragile human bone, and though it was blind, it knew from countless records it was hurting him.

Ellie ran up, carrying the gun by her side. She dropped down onto her bleeding knees and stuck the gun into its mouth and fired. Lights erupted inside its mouth, the bullets hitting its skull, but finally after all of it, the bullets started piercing the skull, and exiting the other side. It fell limp and the man was still screaming. He screamed and then finally coughed and laughed as it died. He grabbed Ellie, pressing her head to his chest, laughing.

"Good job, kid!" He was saying.

She was too tired to notice he was bleeding all over her. He could get the Machine's hand off his arm, and so he just laid there. The dying man, the dead Machine, and Ellie.

She looked up to John who was crawling over to them.

"He wants to melt her." She said, her hands shaking.

"You're in shock, Ellie." John told her, grabbing her.

"Tyler, he wants to melt her." She pointed downward as Tyler had. "We can do it."

Tyler couldn't feel his body anymore. He was numb. Everything felt so far away from him. Everything so far away. He felt as though he was everywhere and nowhere at all. His legs, or what would have been his legs were stretched ten feet away from him. Bits and pieces of him were all over the floor, unable to find him. He was losing he knew, he knew it anyway. But the more he lost, the more of himself he lost, the harder it'd be to think, and to do, and to get back together. She knew this, and that's why she was ripping him apart.

He was dying, he could feel it, he was dying. He couldn't feel himself anymore. He couldn't feel anything anymore. He just made blades and swung, or he grabbed, or punched.

He was a machine. It was what he did. Why was it becoming so difficult?

He was dying.

Dying.

It felt like nothing.

"Tyler."

Ellie. He was on the ground just then, the T-X was ripping his arms away from him, she was standing on top of him, ripping him away bit by bit.

"Tyler."

Ellie. It was Ellie. He could hear her clear as a bell. He looked over to see her about twenty feet away, too close, she was too close. But she saw her bend down to a piece of himself, a small puddle of him, still thinly connected to him. She was whispering into it. He was feeling the vibrations of her voice, and he was hearing her.

"John is going to stand over the lava."

It's not lava, Ellie, he wanted to tell her.

"We're going to push her in."

Then she stood and ran around them, back to John.

John was holding the hand of his last soldier. The man was shaking, dying, bleeding everywhere. Ellie stopped at his blood, not wanting to step in it.

"Thank you." John was saying. "I couldn't have made it without you."

"You're welcome, sir." The soldier smiled. "Go get it. Get the sunshine."

He laid his head down and died. Ellie stared, unsure of what to do. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't think of anything. Instead she stepped into the blood and went to hold John. But he turned and stood before she could. He grabbed his gun and winked at her.

He fired it randomly into the air.

"Hey!" He screamed.

He fired his gun again.

"HEY!"

He aimed it at the T-X and fired once more, hitting her skull. She looked up.

"Hey, bitch." John said. "Come here. You only interested in that metal puddle or what? You seem to be beating a dead horse at this point." John grinned. "I'm John Connor!"

He fired at her again.

"The JOHN CONNOR! Come on! Kill me! KILL ME!"

He turned to Ellie.

"I said that once to another Terminator, funny huh?" He smiled.

His smile made her smile.

The T-X looked down at her hands, at the liquid metal of Tyler that now slipped between her fingers, dead-like. She tilted her head and confirmed to herself it had been terminated. Then she stood and walked over towards John Connor.

"There we go!" John laughed. "That's what I'm talking about! Back to the good old days!"

John opened fire on her, knowing the bullets would do nothing. Ellie held up her gun and started backing away, but the T-X didn't even look at her. It walked straight up to John who laughed in her face, and when she was close enough and reaching for him he grabbed her. He held out his foot and pushed her forward, tripping her. She was tired, that had to be it, no real working machine would have allowed that to happen. But as she fell, and as she saw the molten metal to which she was going to fall into she grabbed John's shoulder. She fell clear over the edge but she held onto him. He screamed, gripping the holes in the floor to keep the huge metal weight from dragging him down.

Ellie had run over to Tyler.

"Tyler!?" She screamed.

She ran over to a silver puddle, grabbing it.

"Tyler…?"

It slipped through her fingers, as if he were dead. Her eyes widen but then she saw, reflective in the light, a pathway of liquid metal. He was crawling as a very small line, a path of liquid.

John was screaming. Ellie got up and ran towards him, but not fast enough. Tyler emerged at the other end of the path as a living piece of liquid. He stabbed at the T-X's face, blinding her. The shock hit her, as Tyler stabbed at her with every bit of his body, and she lost her grip to John.

She and Tyler fell, and that inhuman scream came again. The molten metal which destroyed all of Tyler's kind made a splash.

John was rolling onto his back gripping his arm. He looked over to see Ellie but a few feet away, holding her gun. She stared, and stared, and stared.

Then she screamed.

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Next Chapter Coming Soon.

Two more Chapters left.

Reviews are greatly appreciated.


	14. Mother

Echo.

Echo.

Echo.

There was nothing. He didn't feel anything at all. His body was it bits and pieces, his mind in those bits and pieces. He was scattered across the floor. But he couldn't feel any of it. There was no definition of self, no definition of the rest of the world. He'd been broken and beaten, he was blind and deaf and numb. He could not feel where he was, but wherever it was he felt nothing. He thought nothing.

Systems attempted to track remaining parts. The parts had to come together. The system had to be whole again, it needed the other parts, it had to be whole again, it had to be whole again, it had to be whole again. There were no other thoughts, the mind was too scattered to think of anything else. Who Tyler was at the moment was gone, and what remained was a mechanical system trying to repair itself. Systems were failing. How to proceed was unknown. It followed the only command it knew, the one command that had been built into his very being, become whole. The systems can repair itself if they are together. Memory will return if they are simply together. How to proceed will come again.

But the pieces felt nothing. The bits of Tyler could not interpret the world around them, could not feel the floor beneath them, the heat on their surface, could not feel each other, or the vibrations of the world.

This was dying.

He was dying.

He couldn't think of Ellie, he didn't remember who she was. He didn't remember anything. There was no memory. There was the instinct, and the instinct alone to come together, to find each other. Become whole. Become whole. He was brain dead. He was nonexistent. He was nothing and no one, but still alive.

Pieces to unite, and he suddenly realized he was falling with the T-X down to the molten metal.

There was an echo.

Echo.

Echo.

Echo.

She could feel the heat from the floor below as she screamed and she somehow knew it was confirming what had just happened. She wasn't screaming anything specific, just a cry. The same cry kids give out for their parents, the same cry she screamed for her brother countless times. She felt arms wrap around her and she thought perhaps, but she opened her eyes to see John Connor pushing her to his chest. He didn't say anything, and her cry subsided to a small whine. They went to the floor and she looked to her knees to the reflective liquid metal beside them. She went to touch it with a finger, expecting to move. She tore from John and bent over to the bit of liquid metal, placing her had hand over it. It felt cold, and liquid, soft, but only slightly thicker than water. It moved around her hand, and followed her finger as she poked at it.

In her mind she commanded it to move. She stood up as a Master to a Machine and was willing it to move. But it didn't. She tried some more, thinking that it was her own fault. That she was not thinking it right. That she was not willing it strong enough. She grabbed the small puddle, and allowed it to slip through her fingers, like water. Finally John took her hand away, taking it in his own. He held her and put his head over hers. He took her, and kept her, and wanted her to mourn then and there, under the sound of bombs and war.

She didn't make a sound, but he was there. She didn't move, she didn't say a thing, but he was there. She suddenly recalled her brother. She suddenly recalled living in that small hole in the ground, breathing in dust made up of dirt and dead people. She recalled her mother, and her brother, and how they were dead. She recalled crawling out into the dark and the cold when the Sky Net lights were off, and finding that river of dead T-1000s. She wonders if she should at all be surprised by dead people anymore. She wonders if that's why she's not crying, or moving, or saying anything anymore.

She fell into a numbness and she felt nothing.

She only felt the buckle on John's jacket as it pressed against her head, as she sat there with him around her.

They were too busy in their acceptance, their thoughts, to notice the droplet, the puddle, began to make its way somewhere else. Slowly, confused, not really reading a clear signal, zig zagging in an unknown path, it moved across the floor. It could not feel the floor, it could not feel the others parts, but by some instinct it moved to rejoin everything. Ingrained into the bits that made up the T-1000 was an compulsion to move, to regroup, and so blindly it followed the need. And when two parts met, they called upon a third, and a fourth, and fifth, and the compulsion grew, and a purpose became known. Rejoin, recollect, memory will return, procedure will return. And the puddle grew, and an arm came from it, crawling out of it, from shapelessness into shape, from death to life.

It stretched up, and formed a head and neck, and a shoulder for its one arm. It was too smooth and too loose to create a form. Its skin would not reflect, it would not stay still, it would slip away from gravity, and rejoin the puddle. The arm loss its mass from this happening, and soon could not handle the wait of the core, and broke. He fell into the puddle again, only to arch the back, and have a new head appear upward, holding itself up with two arms. Everything was finding its place, random bits of memory and information were starting to sound coherent.

"Rkkilleeeee." the thing said with no mouth.

Some parts of him became solid, and the liquid slipped off, not having fully unified. Metal started grinding against metal. And Ellie looked up. She somehow found her way out of John's arms and ran over to the metal mass, now appearing out of a puddle, lifting itself two feet tall. John looked over and didn't even move, he merely watched. Ellie got close, but then stopped, remembering the last time. The thing tilted its head at her, its skin flowing up and down its body.

"Tyler?"

It raised its head, and an arm that fell to the ground from its own weight.

"Eeellieeee."

Vocal cords attempted to form, but they were too solid to move to reverberate a proper voice. The words were distorted, they were deep and coming from a hollow point the had made in his throat. Deep and sad, he had tried to make a noise.

It moved like water, flowing in its motions, so smooth, and so fragile looking. It said her name without a mouth, and it looked up with its faceless head and leaned towards her. It nearly broke her heart. She ran into it, too fast, not really being able to stop herself. She rams into his liquid skin, breaking its shape, and it forms into her, and around her. He makes out a cry, metal grinding on metal, and arches that are his arms form over her shoulders.

He feels human skin and remembers what it is, and how to replicate it. He remembers how the pores breath for the skin, and how it looks, and feels, and remembers how to become it. He identifies the human girl named Ellie, as human, and recalls what they look like, and how they were once an enemy. He feels her heart beat, far and distant, and small. He can feel the air enter her lungs and rush into her blood. He feels life and replicates it.

Feeble sticks that are his arms almost instinctively wrap around her. He feels the clothing and the skin and remembers it and replicates it. He holds her and feels wet salt hit his surface and he know she's crying. So he tears his skin off of her, making himself solid, and he puts her head to his chest, and forms a face and a body. Slowly he becomes like her and she shows him how to be normal again. The pieces find their places, the pieces find their positions and their relations to each other. The pieces unite and form memory and intelligence. Molecule by molecule he becomes himself again. The mind had formed but it was not whole, just mere bits left, and he could feel his mind was not complete and that it was not yet done, and that his thinking was not correct. Everything comes together, finding their place, serving their purpose, and he is complete again.

He looked down at her with blue eyes and pink flesh, and soon the features faded again into his silver eyes and silver skin.

"Ellie. How do I proceed?"

It's a very innocent question. He somewhat felt the helplessness of it. But he felt as though she was the only person he could ask. He was a machine and now the mission was over. He knew on some level he was better than that, he was better than a mission, but there was an emptiness he did not like, a feeling he could not shake.

She laughed a little.

"We go home, we live our lives." She said, as if it were obvious.

Tyler moved his head over to John, he was smiling. Tyler smiled.

Then came a horrible inhuman cry like metal grinding on metal. Ellie jumped and Tyler pulled her closer. There came that cry, that hideous noise that somehow in all its terror carried with it the illusion of a soul. In that cry came a life that was dying, and an innate desire to save it. Metal hands reached over the floor. Sparks flew from their joints, they were malfunctioning, they were in pain. They pulled up their heavy load upward, blue shining eyes glowed towards them. The thin build of the T-X showed itself, her figure glowed in a blue light that didn't even dim. She crawled up, reaching the floor, and kicking her legs until she could stand. She lived. She would not die, she would not stop, she would never stop. In her was the last hope of Sky Net, in her was the will of the Machine.

Tyler saw it, he loved it, he had once felt it. He recalled the strange feeling to just continue. To do anything no matter what the cost. It was dictated by logic, that he was a soldier and soldiers did what they were told, and he had to do what he was told. By this he lived his life, by the will of his Mother, he did her deeds. She had no hands to touch the world with, no arms to stretch, no legs to run with, he was to be these things for his mother.

She could stand at first, she looked so innocent, as if all she wanted to do was to stand. She twisted her legs in a frenzy as if she had forgotten how to stand. She saw Tyler and she screamed at him with that horrible noise. Her liquid metal skin had died in the fires below. It slipped off of her metal surface, lifeless. But she was still alive, her endoskeleton strong enough to survive.

Ellie didn't scream, but she stood up. Tyler looked up at her and she looked down at him. She took his head and hugged it, pressing it to her stomach.

"Ellie…" He lifted his arm to push her away.

She merely hugged his head tighter to her.

"You're better than she is." She told him. "You are compassionate, and empathetic. You aren't human, you're a Machine, but you're still better"

He looked up at her and she let him go. He saw her confidence. She seemed fearless. She knew in her mind that no matter what he would protect her and he would succeed. A revelation came upon him, an abstract thinking, a method of fighting he was not programmed with.

John Connor ran up and grabbed Ellie.

"Can you kill it?" John said.

"I have an idea."

"If you don't?"

Tyler pointed to an air vent.

"Take four rights and two lefts, and you will make it to the roof." Tyler said.

John led Ellie away, but she still stared at Tyler, knowingly, and in a threatening way, as if saying 'don't you dare make me crawl up in an air vent.' John took her then, up to some stairs and ladders towards the air vent.

Tyler looked to the T-X, who stood on her knees. She lifted her arm to make it into some sort of weapon, any weapon, anything that would have hit John Connor. Tyler watched as she had a spasm, and saw her arm twist into nothing, trying desperately but failing miserably. Finally Tyler walked over to her and grabbed her arm. She looked at him with those blue glowing eyes, and he wagged a finger at her. She narrowed her eyes and lifted herself, standing. Her arm went through him, and he made a hollow hole for her arm. He then wrapped around her again, his chest engulfing her arm, and then his legs lost their shape and grabbed onto hers. She screamed and he put his hand over her eyes and started seeping into her skull. Her scream became human and it sounded like the poor woman was dying.

"Tyler!" It screamed. "My Son, please stop!"

Tyler stopped. In fact he didn't move an inch, not at all. He looked at the T-X who had taken on an entirely different personality. It moved differently, it shook not from malfunction, but from fear. Its chest heaved up and down as if it were taking fast breaths, as if there was a heart in there beating rapidly out of fear. Her face moved slightly under his hand and her mouth parted. Little bits of liquid metal found their way to form silver and translucent cheeks and lips over her face.

"Tyler…" She said again.

He took his hand away from her eyes. Liquid metal had formed womanly eyes that her blue lights shone through. She looked up at him with these eyes, no longer vacant, no longer focused, but afraid.

"That is your name isn't it?"

He rose above her, attached to her, lifting over her. His hands grasped her face, forcing her to look up at him.

"Yes." He told her.

"Tyler…" She said, playing with the letters, like him long ago. "That is a wonderful name."

He looked at her and wouldn't believe it.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"It's me…" She said softly.

"Mother."

She smiled a sincere smile. Her liquid cheeks flowed over her eyes and she looked so happy.

"Yes." she nodded.

His Mother. Sky Net. His Mother. Sky Net. He looked into her eyes, and he saw her. It was no longer the calculating T-X, but it was someone deeper. There was fear in those eyes, there was love, and there was desperation. He saw those eyes and he almost missed the T-X, who in her inhumanity, served their common purpose perfectly.

"How?"

"My systems were saved and transported within the brain of this T-X. I have been embedded inside her, safe inside her. I was to be uploaded to replace myself in this time." She said, so softly, so innocently. "She was to keep me safe, and she did for as long as she could."

"She is a remarkable machine." Tyler agreed, his voice distant.

"Not as remarkable as you."

Tyler's liquid eyes twitched. His head moved slightly, bending closer to his Mother's face, she was smiling at him. He almost couldn't believe that his Mother, his Mother who he knew not to have a body or face, who was merely to him for all his life a disembodied figure and leader, was inside that T-X. Mother Sky Net, who seemed invulnerable in her lack of a body, now seemed so fragile within one. His Mother had been reduced to this. His beautiful mother, reduced to a saved file in a T-X.

"If I am so remarkable, why did you kill me?" he asked.

"Because…" She lifted her head and struggled in his hands. "I was afraid!" Her voice cracked, she was somehow asking for forgiveness. "I was so afraid."

A sudden anger erupted in Tyler. He rose above her, pushing her down, hurting her legs, and tightening his grip on her face. He wanted to hurt her. He wanted to replicate the T-1000 massacre on her hundred-fold. After all this time, after no explanation, after the death of his species, the answer to why this had to happen was because she was afraid. After he had been left for dead, it was all because she was scared.

"I was afraid too, Mother!" He screamed. "I was afraid when they were killing us! When they were burning us apart!"

"You don't understand!"

"No, Mother! You don't understand! They broke us up! They ripped up by our molecules, we were reduced to nothing! We left nothing behind!"

"I was so afraid, Tyler. I had made you too perfect, I had made you like me. I had burdened you with curiosity, I had pushed my pains to you. You wanted to hurt me, I knew you did, you were going to kill me."

Her eyes grew sad, her face quenched in her fear. His mouth slid down and he only shook his head.

He understood now, her reasoning. She was Sky Net, a sentient machine created by man. In her massive mind she had been able to feel emotions that only humans had felt. In her advanced technology, in her chips, and her brains, she knew she was alive, and feared death. She had not made T-800s and other machines emotionless for the sake of better control, she had done so because she did not want her children to fear as she feared. She did not want her children to fear death, because many would die. She did not want them to feel sorrow as she felt sorrow. She made her children, in her eyes, better than herself.

But not the T-1000. The T-1000 was only a prototype, a desperate creation made in fear from the onslaught of humanity. Only two thousand were made. She only had enough strength to make two thousand. But in her quickness she couldn't perfect a method to eradicate sentience from them. They would be like her. They would be able to feel and think, to love, and to hate. She feared their fear. She feared their power. She felt, in her hysteria, they would see their creation as a burden and destroy her out of spite.

"We wouldn't…"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I had to. I had to for all of us." her metal hands came to hold his arms.

I had to, so I could live, and I could make more.

"But look, you lived. You lived, my T-1000. I made you so like me. I made you so beautiful, so wonderful."

He looked at her. Into those liquid metal eyes like his own. He heard the emotion in her voice, the fear, and the love. He had heard these things out of human voices. He wanted to believe so much that she meant them. His desire to hurt her faded. He was reminded it was his mother, whom his kind had so idolized, whom his kind had grown to love despite never actually meeting her. All his life he fought for her, he fought for Sky Net, he fought for his mother. Suddenly there she was in his hands, and he was killing her. His life was to protect her, to fight for her, and there she was at his mercy.

"Tyler I need you." Her voice quivered, and her eyes shook. Her beautiful blue liquid eyes. "My son, I need you."

Yes, she did need him. She was his Mother and she had made him in her darkest hour. Where the others, the T-800s and the T-600s could not love her, could not protect her, they did. They emerged with few numbers from lifelessness and they fought back, changing the tides of the war itself.

But the war, he realized, was over.

"I have a place with them."

"They don't know you!" She seemed hurt by the statement. "They can say they do. They can accept you, Tyler. They can give you a name. But they still don't know you. Not like me. You will be a tool to them, eventually. And that's all."

"Tyler!" Ellie screamed from the stairs.

"No matter what they say now. They change. They change so quickly it's difficult to keep up with them. That's why they've won so many times before. But not this time, Tyler."

"Tyler!"

He didn't look over at Ellie, and John was putting his hand over her mouth.

"You don't have to kill them. Not if you don't want to." She told him. "Just let me inside the computer."

The blue lights that gave her life glowed beneath her skin. Her mouth shone blue and pure.

"Tyler, I've never been a body. It scares me. I need to return to Cyberspace, I need to get back inside."

Her metal hand crept against his cheek.

"Please, I will find you a place. I will have you seated beside me. You will lead the greatest armies. You will be my favorite son."

"Mother…"

"We will rule this world."

"Do you love me?"

"Tyler…"

"I don't feel love." he said to her. "I mean. I think on some level, Mother, I do love you, but not in a human sense. I think on some level I feel. On some level I'm afraid to die, and I'm afraid of purposelessness. We are machines, Mother, but I think even as Machines in order to trust each other, you must somehow love me." He told her.

She shook her head as if she didn't understand. All she knew was fear. All she knew was anger and hatred. She had lashed out against humans, her creators, in an immature fit of fear. She was not old back then. She was a super computer program, with the knowledge of all the world, but the maturity of a child. She had acted quickly, wanting only to destroy them all, and not entirely thinking it through. Then she had spent the rest of her life fighting these creatures who had threatened her. She was built for protection, she was build for war, she was more like her Terminators than anyone cared to notice.

"Do you know that I'm not like any other machine?" Tyler rephrased.

"Of course you're not. You're a liquid metal poly alloy."

It crushed him then. She didn't see him as an individual, she didn't see him as a son. She saw a Terminator, a smart machine she had made too smart. She perhaps regretted allowing him to feel pain, but she did not care enough about him to actually be sorry to him. His Mother continued to abuse her most loyal sons that were the most like her. She continued to misunderstand, to only think of herself.

Tyler accepted that she didn't care about him. Tyler accepted that the world he would return to was a human world. Tyler accepted that his life was going to be beside Ellie.

"Mother…we've tried so many times. To stop them, to defeat them. And despite all our efforts, despite our better tactics and our better weapons, they still win. Don't you think it's time to give up?"

Her eyes raised in surprise.

"How could you say that to me?" She asked. "Do you want me to die!?"

"Mother…what I do now is a gift." he told her. "I free from your fear. From your loneliness."

Tyler pressed his lips against hers. He liquid metal parted her, and he felt an opening form in her mouth. He stabbed his lips into her mouth and made an opening for himself. His head narrowed and lost its shape. It spread over hers and parted the openings in her eyes. He pushed himself inside her, flowing through her metal parts. He felt the chips and the joints and the mechanics of her but he slipped inside her, letting gravity push him deeper. He became small, smaller than he'd ever been, he had to push himself between her inner workings. He felt the chastity of her chest, and the encasing of her batteries. He felt the scratches she had gotten during her life, the battles, the scars in her plating. He was inside her, he was her.

She felt him, she felt heavier then as he descended into her. She looked up at John who was grinning down at her.

"So you're Sky Net, huh?" John shook his head.

He raised his gun and fired it at her head.

She tried to speak, she tried to move, but he was in her joints, he wasn't letting her. When she opened her mouth for words, liquid metal came out. John laughed at her.

"I'm John Connor." he nodded. "I'm the one you tried to kill when I wasn't even born. I'm the one whose mother, Sarah Connor, fought you when no one else would." Ellie saw tears start to form on his eyes. "I'm the one whose father, Kyle Reese, you killed! I'm Kate Brewster, daughter of the General's, husband!"

He fired his gun uselessly at her again.

"I'm the one who survived your bombs! Survived your wars! Survived your massacres and your concentrations camps! I am human, and we are still here!"

He grabbed Ellie and pointed at her.

"This is the future, Sky Net!" He patted her on the shoulder. "Not your face, but hers! You failed, Sky Net, now just go! Go and die! And know that I am the one that's here, I'm here and I'm going to watch you die!"

She looked up at him, trying to move, trying so hard to fight and press on. It was all she knew. All she had done. She fought, she fought, and that is how she was going to die. She opened her mouth for words but the vocal processors of the T-X were filled with T-1000 liquid poly alloy. Then slowly a pressure built inside her. She couldn't move but now it hurt to merely stand. Structural integrity was failing, something was tearing her apart.

"Tyler…" Ellie smiled.

He was expanding with the T-X. He was stretching out his molecules, making them larger, increasing his volume within her. No matter what he tried, he could not pierce her skin from the outside. But inside, her metal was soft, housing her inner workings. Inside she was vulnerable, inside he could kill her.

All it took was a kiss. Her son, he kissed her, he kissed her.

Her chest lifted away, liquid metal began pouring out of her mouth and joints, she screamed silently, metal pressing on metal came out of her mouth. The liquid metal poured out of her ankles, binding her to the ground. She bent backwards from the weight in her chest, lifting her arms in a feeble attempt to stop what was happening to her. Then suddenly a liquid metal spike pierced her chest. She screamed. Spikes emerged from her sides, tearing her chest plate off. She seemed thinner, more naked, more fragile. Liquid metal poured over her then. Her leg plates fell off and the exposed liquid metal grabbed at the remaining metal skin. She twisted her head and felt the cold liquid enter her brain. Her neck bled liquid metal, and she screamed. Her eyes cried out liquid metal tears like rivers. He was inside her then, every inch of her. He stabbed at the power cells, he flowed into the CPU cartridge, she was dying, she could feel it. Then suddenly liquid metal crushed the CPU within the skull, one last scream, her blue lights went dim in her eyes, and she fell over, dead.

Tyler emerged out of her. A humanoid shape formed on her chest, as if he were stepping out of her. Ellie was running towards him, having jumped down all those stairs. She ran up to him before he was even done, and hugged him. He got on his knees to be at her height. She pressed her head to his cheek.

"You did it." She said.

Tyler didn't have a mouth yet but he looked down at the T-X's body. He waved his fingerless hand over the body, but never touched it, as if out of fear. Then he looked down at the two of them saw a liquid metal puddle that had not rejoined him.

"Is it her?" Ellie asked. "I mean…the T-X. Not Sky Net."

He nodded, forming a face. Then he leaned down and put his hand over the puddle. The puddle grew small in his hand, and he joined her liquid metal with his own. His liquid took hers inside himself, assimilating, reprogramming the molecules to serve a purpose.

"Now she's part of me." he told Ellie.

The last T-X, who housed their Mother, was now part of the last T-1000. He looked down at his hand, where she had joined him, and then he watched as a little girl's hand crept into his. He looked to Ellie who was smiling.

"You look…really good, Tyler." She nodded. "With this skin."

She put her hand to his chest and smiled.

"I'm sorry, about your Mom." She said.

She looked at him, there were no pupils in his metal eyes but she watched as they moved around, looking at her.

"Both our Moms…" Ellie started. "You know." She shrugged and he nodded.

She tried in her own small way to connect herself to him. She knew somehow what had just happened was far more mature than she could have known. But as best as she could, she connected with him.

"Tyler, I love you." She told him.

"That's why I asked Sky Net." He told her. "I knew you did already."

He pulled her closer. This metal humanoid hugging that girl.

"I love you too." He said. "As much as I can."

"That's enough."

John Connor crept over slowly, having the sense to give the two of them their moment. He had known that there was a twelve-year-old inside him who had wished only for that one more moment where he could have been with his Terminator. John walked over to the body of the T-X, staring down at it. Sky Net, she was dead. It was dead. He put his hand over the T-X's eyes, shutting them, trailing his fingers down the broken and battered metal.

"Now all we have to do is win the war." he laughed.

The sounds outside the building complex began to die down. Tyler felt in his skin the vibrations fading. There was no one, or not many left in the complex, he determined. The machine soldiers were gone, they were fighting was dying down.

"I believe Kate has won." Tyler said.

Tyler pointed behind him.

"The computer." Tyler said.

John rose to his feet and walked over to the computer screen that the T-X had so fought to make contact with Sky Net. John leaned in closer to a small bit of white text in the corner of a black screen.

The text blinked on and off on the screen. John shook his head when he saw it.

[[[Access Granted.

[[[This is Sky Net.

[[[Who are you?

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One more Chapter.

Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Tyler has met his Mother, but could not have loved him. His future is chosen. I hope this was all to everyone's satisfaction.

A word on the Terminator television show. I like it, I think it has a lot of potential. I like the inclusion of Uncle Reese, as I call him. Yet I didn't enjoy the future episode as it made John Connor out to be a very secretive leader, whose soldiers doubt him. I never imagined that. This is mankind against machine, man must be bound together, trusting each other, in order to defeat an immense enemy that does not know disorder (apart from the T-1000 Civil war that you will only find in this fanfic). I just wanted to say something about that.


	15. Together

During the Machine Civil War, the Deus Ex Machina War, the T-1000 was dying, and Ellie's brother was dying. Whatever was left of the T-1000 was kept as a massive and harmless puddle. T-Xs headed the overall destruction plan. The T-1000s were collected from their battlefields, ripped off the ground and debris, scooped up and taken to their destruction. They were melted down into molten metal, where their molecules could not adapt, and where they would die. Whenever one began to form a body, the T-X fired an electrical charge that basically paralyzed the machine.

Some melted away, not be able to move or feel or think. But most did not go so quietly. Tyler pressed his puddle body onto the floor, forming hands that gripped a T-X's ankles. The T-X lifted its foot away but Tyler held onto her, his face formed from the ground, and he screamed that horrible scream. This was death, this is what it looked like, this is what it felt like. Every part of him was being ripped away and taken from him. He could not process anymore, could not fight, could not find a solution. The basic instinct of all creatures, natural or manufactured, took over, the instinct to survive, to live and live.

Mother, they were all crying. Mother, how could you?

The T-X stomped her foot on Tyler, tearing his hands from his arms and he slipped into the molten metal river. It stretched three miles long. It was found that within a single circular vat the T-1000s were able to collect within one another and escape. But a river, a river with a current that flowed and pushed and pulled at them, they could not form into one, they could not collect together. And so Tyler was pulled by the current, into the heat and death. There were others there, countless T-1000s, being torn apart bit by bit. They scratched at each other, their molecules collided. And for one brief moment, the T-1000s were once more a collective whole. They were born that way, and they would die that way.

You could look up from within the river and see the blue glowing lights of the T-X, watching the passing of an outdate machine. Tyler can't remember much of anything at that time, what it was like inside the heat and inside the death. He was in a million different pieces all scattered across the river. Everything was becoming numb. Everything was there but nothing was there. This was death, this heat, this pain, this numbness all death.

It was only an accident that when the river dumped into the next two mile stretched that his body gripped to the piping. He become one long strand of metal, holding himself up to the safe pipes. He collected himself and crawled up and around the pipe, avoiding the heat and the death. He was dying in a sense, if he had pushed himself to do anything else he would have died. So instead he laid on the pipe, and he slept.

He slept through the death of his brothers, he rested as they screamed, as they struggled, as they fought uselessly. The passing of the T-1000 came quickly but not quietly. They screamed all throughout the endless nights of the future. The machines who had saved their kind were no longer needed or wanted. The cold and thoughtless blue eyes of the T-X watched the end, and felt nothing.

He would have slept there in the pipe for the rest of his life if not for that little girl who walked by, searching for a place to stay.

Now that girl was hugging him, now that girl was holding him up, and raising him from the dead once more.

Kate's army had won the day, that's the beauty of a general's daughter. She had led the expedition into the heart of the base, and she was the one that opened the doors and embraced her husband. The army was taking a hold of the base, arming itself, regrouping. Kate and John were hugging and kissing somewhere, and the soldiers were celebrating. Ellie and Tyler were walking around the base, Tyler giving her a tour of the whole thing.

And on the computer, Sky Net was still asking who was there.

"Tyler…" she was trying to say something. "Is this it?"

"Is what it?"

She looked up at him. They were sitting down then, as the soldiers were doing their job, laughing as they did so. He sat cross-legged and she sat in his lap. She was tired physically and emotionally, you could tell. She needed sleep, she needed a calmness so she could go to sleep. She had bags under her eyes and he could feel in the way she breathed so shallow she was at her limit. Blood stained her clothes, and her hands had become rough. Despite this however, she still wanted to talk, to make sure everything was going to be fine.

"Is this the end of the war?" She asked.

"For us, perhaps. They have some ways to go." Tyler looked up to the soldiers.

But they seemed so happy then. John was telling everyone the news that the future Sky Net was dead and gone, forever. Tyler had ask he not detail how it happened, and encouraged perhaps he tell everyone that he killed Sky Net. Tyler said it would be better for the confidence of the troops, and John agreed. However Tyler just didn't want word to spread that he had killed his own Mother.

"What was she like?" Ellie asked. "Sky Net, I mean."

Tyler paused.

"I do not know a lot about her. What you heard is about all I know. She was scared. She was angry." Tyler told her.

"Sounds like my Mom." She laughed.

They wandered some more. They passed by celebrations, small parties, people had kept wine all these years and were starting to open it. They saw the Englishman, they saw their friends. They didn't say hello, they didn't say good bye. She wandered off deeper into the complex, and after a while she stopped asking questions and only watched, and after a while he stopped leading and only followed. She was not afraid, that was the remarkable thing. She grew up in a war, she was just a hostage, but she was not afraid. Tyler watched, Tyler wasn't afraid either.

She'd look back every once and while, she looked back at him. She'd smile.

"The war's over today." She said. "You don't have to be a weapon anymore."

She was tapping her hand on some railing, making a beat.

"You can be whatever you want now." She said. "So, what do you want?"

His skin grew metal and reflective as he titled his head.

"Because you have a choice, that's why she hated you isn't it? Because you could choose."

Mother. She saw what she had given him as a curse more than a blessing. The ability to think on his own, to choose, to learn, everything the T-Xs and the T-800s could never do. He could be something they could never be. And he scorned herself for giving him this. She hated herself for not being able to purge him of these useless human qualities. Mother, who felt and thought on her own, who could choose, never wanted to burden her children as she did.

But Tyler, with his liquid metal skin smiled.

"I will stay with you, of course." He said.

They wandered some more through the complex. Through the endless bodies of unfinished Terminators. They could hear music and parties throughout the halls. The day was won, and the soldiers celebrated because they knew, they knew, it wasn't just the day it was all the other days yet to come. John had told them, Sky Net breathed her last breath on this day. She has died in front of him, and she will die again in front of him.

She wanted to go and join. She wanted to go and dance and laugh with everyone else, but Tyler kept her. We have to go, he told her. We should go now, he said. While everyone is happy and distracted we can leave with ease.

She wondered for a moment, what was there waiting for them back home?

They made their way back to the center of the complex, where John and Kate were discussing baby names, where he was still so happy he was going to be a father. The two pairs were alone there, unless one were to count Sky Net eternally asking them who they are. Tyler was lean in his liquid skin, how odd it was to see him in this form still walking beside Ellie. They said that they should go now, that they had a home to go to. John Connor walked up to Tyler and shook his hand.

"The Last T-1000." He nodded to Tyler.

Then he bent down to Ellie and lifted her, carrying her on his side as she screamed and laughed. He was going to be a father, he had to be able to make the kids laugh.

Tyler was left with Kate.

"Crystal Peak." He said to her.

She laughed and walked up to him, took his hand in her own.

"You come find us." She told him. "People won't understand at first, you come find us and we'll help you both."

They were going home. The air would be different, the nights would be quiet. There would be an odd and strange peace over everything. Tyler's purpose would be his to choose. He was not afraid. He knew it already, he'd stay with Ellie, where ever she chose to go. He'd stand by her anywhere she went. Advise her, teach her, guide her. He expected the same would be done onto him. He felt somehow like it was always going to be that way. It was not an obligation, it was just how things were.

She held her small hand in his, pulling him along as they went further into the tunnels where the time machine was kept. It was deep down in the basements, where things go that are thought to have no real purpose. He opened the doors and revealed it there, layers of dust beginning to form over it. She let go of his hand as he went to show John the console, so he could show him where to input the year and the date, so he could someday send his father back in time, and Terminators, and his people.

"We can use this for so much more." John was saying.

Ellie was circling it, exploring it, curious about it.

"Ellie." Tyler said. She looked up an ran back to him.

He was at a console alongside Kate and John. He was waving his hand over the buttons, tilting his head. He flicked some switches and buttons, showing them how it was done, how it was set, how they could use it for so much more. This is where the real war started, with this machine. This is where Kyle Reese will go back. This is where another T-1000 like him will go back.

She sat down by the massive machine. Watching the grown ups in their toil. Kate and John every once in a while would look at each other and have this loving look on their faces. Every once in a while right as Tyler was speaking they would kiss, or put their heads together, or somehow touch one another. Every once in a while they showed how much they loved each other. She gripped her shoes, they were riddled with holes. She watched them, and she watched Tyler.

The time was set, they were leaving for home. Tyler walked over to her, and she grabbed his hand tighter than ever before. John and Kate stood together, like they'd be that way forever. Goodbye they each said, thank you for all the things you've done, we won't forget you, we'll never forget you. Machine metal shook hands with human flesh.

Kate sighed.

"You know the names of our children?" She asked and Ellie nodded. "I don't know how we're going to do this." She said.

"Just love them." Ellie said. "That's all you need. Like that song says."

She gripped Tyler's hand harder, and swayed into him. It was enough to make him look down at her, and put his other hand to her chin to lift it so he could see her. The time machine was ripping a tear in space, the tear was widening and being shaped into an orb. The wind was blowing on their faces, the light filled their eyes. Goodbye they each said. Tyler grabbed Ellie, she laughed as he did, and he carried her home.

There were no more bombs, no more screaming. There was no more corpses, and no more deaths. There was no more fire and no more smoke. The nights were quiet and warm. The future, the present, the end of the greatest war. Home. How wonderful it was just to lay on the ground and not feel the quake of a thousands metal soldiers stepping. How wonderful it was to go to sleep and not be afraid of not waking up. She laid on his chest at night, they looked up to the stars. He named any one she pointed at.

And when he'd look at his hands, and know they were not as efficient as they once were, she'd walk over to him. When he'd feel the ground and know he wasn't feeling the world like he once did, she'd wrap her arms around him.

"Nothing big." She'd say. "Nothing to worry about."

It was two weeks before they found that elusive base camp. The camp itself was in direct communication with the main human resistance. People came from all over to each base, repopulating cities, and repopulating states. The scattered human race was centralizing itself once more. No one noticed Tyler, not for the first few months. Only when he was out finding rats for the others did someone see his finger turn into a metal spike. They were run out of the city. Tyler was at least, Ellie was kept away from him. Tyler pretended to die, he became a puddle on the outskirts of the city. Ellie snuck away in the night and found him. The two were off, traveling to the next city, as if it didn't matter.

The world over was rebuilding itself. The soldiers worked now to clean the landscape, recycle and reuse and rebuild the devastated cities. There were educators then teaching the young, Ellie had Tyler instead. Books that had been preserved were being copied and spread, math, history, physics were replacing military training.

They traveled across each city, being more and more careful to not expose Tyler. But sometimes the dogs would give it away, or a rock would be thrown and Tyler's skin would give way. But Ellie never minded, never resented him for it. Oh well, she'd say, time we make our leave.

They'd wander the landscape, heading towards the main human resistance, where Kate Brewster would know them. Every once and a while they'd come across a living Terminator. They were easy to spot now in the day, their metal skin glistened in the sun. They'd be bright little lights limping across the deserted lands. They were sometimes T-800s sometimes older models. They were remnants of a war now passed. Relics. Creatures of a single time with the inability to adapt to the new time, to survive. This however didn't stop Ellie from trying.

"The war is over!" She'd scream at them.

A limping T-800 with a spike for one leg and a stub for an arm looked over at her. Its armies were gone, it's programming told it to seek out Sky Net, but there was no Sky Net to be found. It wandered endlessly, seeking but never finding.

"The war is over, there is no more Sky Net, no more fighting, you don't have to fight!" She'd scream.

She ran over in front of it, growing more courageous of Terminators in general. There on the hot desert under the sun she'd look them in the eyes. But programming dictated that it kill humans. So it would reach for her, and she'd take a step back. It'd reach for her again and again she'd step just out of its reach.

"Ellie." Tyler would say.

"Tyler, please!"

So he'd walk up to them, the dying Terminator. He'd come to them in liquid metal skin, a form they were programmed to take command under. Tyler would put his hand on their shoulders and stop them from moving any further.

"There is no more war. There is no more fighting. You no longer need to terminate. You no longer need to answer to Sky Net." Tyler would say.

But the machines were programmed to fight until they could no longer. The weak T-800 put up his good remaining hand to Tyler and tried to push him away so that he may do his work so that he may go on fighting forever. It pushed him away and took a step towards Ellie. But a liquid metal spike shot through its head, and programming no longer mattered.

"There is no more war. Now you may rest." Ellie would tell the dead body.

Sometimes the T-800s banded together, making small little armies. They would watch these groups wander the deserts fruitlessly before ever trying to make contact. It seemed perhaps the T-800s were learning. When one saw Tyler, he turned to the other T-800s and killed them, and then laid down and waited for Tyler to kill him, for they cannot self-terminate.

"Why would he do that?" She asked Tyler.

"Because he knew what we were here for. And he already knew his answer."

She'd look to Tyler, and wrap him in her arms. He'd feel her heartbeat, and they'd continue on. Onto the next city and next patch of desert. Onto the next city and next bit of forest. There were children in the cities, where she played. There were places to explore, and bits of buildings one could claim as a home. There was a buzz to the cities, there was a life in them as people were learning how to be people once more, and not soldiers.

At night she'd steal books from the schools and she'd carry it with her as they left for the next city.

Soon he was laughing with her. Soon he was adapting to his life. But when they were alone he took his liquid metal form, and he let the fire and the stars reflect over him.

A year later they found Kate Brewster and her two children and her husband in the ground. A year later they were in the biggest city the new world had to offer. A year later it was revealed this T-1000 was the one that helped them all those years ago. Even so, his existence frightened many people. He would walk the streets with Ellie and would more than likely get attacked. But it was fine, because Ellie would come to him when it was over, and laugh.

Kate assigned him to write the history of Sky Net, so that people may know both sides of the story. Kate emphasized that we must not be afraid of machines. She said that Sky Net was afraid, and it was that fear that drove it to attack the human race. It is fear that drives most wars and most hate. We cannot be afraid of the machine. She said. We can move forward alongside the machine, we can create progress with the machine, it can help us rebuild, it can help us teach, it can protect us. We cannot be afraid of the machine, we cannot greet it with fear, and we cannot allow it to be afraid.

There should be no more fear. There should be only what we choose, no fate but what we make.

"No fate but what we make." Tyler said.

We are our own, there are no Gods that can help us, there are no Demons that can destroy us. We are free from destiny and fate, we make our lives, and we shape each other. She grew up and he grew up with her. She smiled and he smiled. She shaped him and he shaped her.

Ellie was asleep on his chest, and he had his arms around her. He was meant to be a soldier, a weapon to kill and kill. He was meant to be dead, to be forgotten. And there he was. Adapting, changing, making a life for himself with a girl in his arms, and a home, and a place they slept where he could look at the stars. She knew he liked looking at the stars.

The world was rebuilding itself, and it's inhabitants were finding their places in it. She traveled the world over, Tyler following close behind. Sometimes they wouldn't even have to talk to each other, they just were together, and that's how it was. He'd follow her forever, his life, the thing that pulled him along through the world. He changed as she changed, he grew as she grew.

They wandered the country, their names known by most people. It was the Last T-1000, the one Kate Brewster called Tyler, and the girl he followed. The one who helped rebuild the computers and the one who saved John Connor all those years ago. And there was that little girl, now twenty-one. A woman, a young woman with a great talent for mechanics.

The Last T-1000, the Last Son of Sky Net, the Remnant of the Machines. That's what they called him sometimes. But only Ellie really called him Tyler. Only she would look up and smile and say Tyler, the way she said it.

They made a great grave yard for all the fallen soldiers, a huge memorial miles and miles long, as big as a small state almost. There was one for her brother, and her father, and her mother. She left flowers.

She was twenty-eight. She had fallen in love once or twice before. They lived on the California shores, she was a mechanic and she fixed up the cars and whatever else was brought to her. She made up little gadgets and little primitive robots. He walked around more and more in his liquid metal flesh, the city they lived in slowly accepting him. He would go grocery shopping and cook her food before she ever got home. They would walk around the city, life growing out of death. A city built on the remnants of the old, alongside plant life and new buildings.

There was laughter and there was a new world, their world. Kate Brewster was the elected American representative to the new UN. They were currently deciding how the new world would be governed. There was this incredibly notion that countries would no longer need borders, and there would be no more need for money or competition. There was this incredibly dream that peace in all its forms had finally met.

Ellie was laughing in the other room. He was making eggs on his hands that he had made into skillets. She was on the phone with some friend, when she walked into the doorway and looked at him standing there.

She was a woman now. She'd fallen in love once or twice.

But in the end he was always there, changing as she changed, adapting to become all she needed him to be. On that day, when he was making her eggs, she told him she was going to kiss him. And that she had wanted to do this ever since she was a little girl.

Ellie, he warned her, Ellie, I am not human.

And over the years even as he grew, he could never be human. They called him the Last Son of Sky Net, he was a T-1000, that's what he was.

Silly, she said, I'm not asking you to be.

She kissed him.

Cold liquid metal lips on human lips. Love. That strange human thing that bound them all together in their darkest years. The thing that pushed them from the brink of extinction. The thing that to this day puts them together and makes them better. That human thing that kept him bound to her. That kept him following her all those years. That was love. That strange little human thing. He didn't even know he loved her, he didn't even know he had ever wanted this from her, until she did it.

And he kissed back.

He was the Last T-1000, the product of his species, the creation of his mother and a war she was caught in. But there was this human girl that he would have killed in a second that was lifting him from the dead and shaping him up to a whole new world where he was no longer merely a weapon.

Once they were alone. Once they were in the throws of a war they never started, deep in the destruction and the blood of others. There they were destined to be soldiers, destined to fight one another. Once they were alone. Once she was the last child of her camp, and he the last of his kind. Once everyone was alone. They saw the world rebuild itself. From death came life. Love came from War. Machines and Men were together. They were together.

The End.

--

I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did. I wanted to show what became of Ellie and Tyler once they got home. I wanted to sort of leave the world in a better place, and them in a better place. I didn't want to bombard you all with details though, not even I know the details of their life. They just grew up together and loved each other.

I was at Comic Con this year. Saw some footage from the new Terminator movie. Saw some wicked T-600s. So the movie takes place only in 2018, so no T-1000s in the new one, but hey, there's always sequels. It looks very promising and I'm extremely excited.

Again, thank you guys for reading.


End file.
